Teammate Down
by LadyRaven-321
Summary: How can a bad day get worse? Just ask Neil…if he survives…!
1. A Bad Start

**Brief Summery:** How can a bad day get worse? Just ask Neil…if he survives…!

**Disclaimer:** _Class of the Titans_ is a property of Studio B. In no way am I making a profit from writing this fan fiction story.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** I have been debating on writing this one before my other COTT story, _Vengeance: A Dish Served Cold,_ but I had to still work out the loop-holes from this story. Since _Vengeance: A Dish Served Cold_ had been sorted out first I decided to start that instead. But now that I have completely figured out the entire frame of where I want this story to head I am now posting it for you.

Please bear with me if my updates are not frequent. My schedules are usually pretty busy and I rarely get a chance to focus on my writing, but please enjoy what I do update and don't forget to send me a review once in a while. I'd love to hear from you!

**Teammate Down!**

**Chapter 1: A Bad Start**

The alarm clock goes off, buzzing incessantly until the blond boy snoring in the bed beside it slowly stirs and reaches out to turn it off with a grunt of annoyance. With a big yawn, he removes his green padded blindfold from his eyes, blinking rapidly to clear up fuzziness and glances at the clock.

"Wha…?" At first he isn't sure if it is the correct time he is seeing. The numbers he reads on the clock says 5:15am.

"NO!" He shouts in horror, bolting out from under the bed sheets in an instant, "I'm late…!"

Neil suddenly remembers that he had already pushed the snooze button a few times already.

Quickly, Neil tears off his monogrammed green pajamas and tosses them carelessly onto the floor. He reaches for his good black and white t-shirt and black pants, not to mention a pair of clean boxer underpants and a pair of white socks too. After pulling them all on at super speed, the blond teen hero pushes and twists his feet into his white and black striped sneakers. This whole performance he did in just under two minutes. Being a model, Neil is quick at changing and putting on clothes, especially if he is in a show.

What seems to be a flawless clothing change suddenly and unexpectedly turns chaotic; in his mad rush to the door, he trips over one piece of his pajamas lying right in his path and falls flat on the floor with a resounding thud.

"Ow…!" He groans. Frantically he gets up and runs out of his bedroom.

Neil practically flies into the bathroom and flips on the light switch. Heading straight for the sink, he grabs his tooth brush and squeezes the toothpaste onto it. With a quick thrust, Neil shoves the toothbrush into his mouth and begins to brush his teeth wildly. After a making sure every tooth has been thoroughly brushed, he spits out the fluorite paste. He then grabs a cup which bore his first initial on it sitting on the counter next to the sink and pours some water into it. Thus done, Neil takes a mouthful and starts swishing the liquid from cheek to cheek rapidly for a few seconds then spitting it out into the sink.

Absently, he slams the toothbrush and cup on the counter by the sink and runs out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. He grabs his favorite brush and quickly combing his hair so it doesn't look so out of place. As soon as he is sure his hair is good to go, he throws down the brush and picks up his black and white wrist bands. He puts them on before grabbing his backpack and, most importantly, his three-sided-monogrammed pocket mirror. "Okay! I'm all set!" He declares proudly. Careful not to repeat his careless trip with his crumpled pajamas on the floor, Neil runs out of his room, slamming the door behind him, and down the hall.

Hearing the loud racket, Jay opens the door with a wide yawn from within his own bedroom just in time to see Neil racing down the hall towards him. "Hey, what's happening out here, Neil?" The team leader calls out. Neil does not stop; he rushes past his friend so fast, Jay's hair flutters in the breeze.

"Sorry, can't talk…I'm late…!" Neil cries in a panic, leaving Jay to stare after him with a befuddled expression on his face. The young model teen's feet makes loud thumping noises as he pounds frantically down the stairs. The last thing Jay hears is the loud bang of the front door being slammed shut.

Herry opens his bedroom door right across the hall from Jay's room and sticks his head out, looking somewhat annoyed. "What's going on?" Herry yawned tiredly. "It's five in the morning and its Saturday. There better be a good reason for all the noise!"

"If I were to make a guess, I'd say Neil is running late for his modeling shoot." The brunette boy deduces with a shake of his head as he leaned his tired body up against the door frame.

"On a Saturday…?" Herry looks at his friend with a puzzled expression.

Jay shrugs. "Well, being he has school during the week I guess the best solution is for him to have a shoot on a weekend."

The brawn teen groans. "Whatever…I'm going back to bed!" He lets out a loud yawn again and closes the door behind him.

"Good idea," Jay nods in agreement before closing his own door and returning to his bed.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

As fast as Neil can on his own feet, he dashes down the sidewalk. But he is not paying attention to where he is going, and while crossing the street he is nearly hit by a passing car. Neil manages to hop out of the way just in time before the car comes to a complete stop.

"Hey, watch it! Can't you see I'm running here?" He screams at the startled driver and keeps on running down the other sidewalk. He can hear the driver cursing loudly at him. Incensed at being called such rude names, Neil turns his head to sling insult for insult back at the driver.

As he does so he fails to notice a man coming out of a nearby coffee shop with a hot beverage in his hand. Before Neil scarcely realizes what is happening, he crashes into the man. The hot coffee in the man's mug spills out and splashes all down the white part of Neil's shirt.

"Oh come on…!" Neil shouts, dancing around wildly in frustration and agony as the scalding hot liquid drips down through his shirt and onto his delicate skin.

"Hey kid, watch where you're going!" The man yells furiously.

"Hey pal, _you_ watch where _you're_ going, I'm in a hurry here!" The teen boy retorts angrily. Before the man could yell again at him, Neil speeds away.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Neil rushes into the building of the modeling agency where he works. Gasping, he bends over and grasps his knees, quite out of breath. Never have he had to run so long so fast before! As his pounding heart and his ragged breath slowly returns to normal, he looks around, wondering if Frankie, his photographer, is here yet. When he notices no one besides himself is here, Neil lets out a sigh of relief. Regardless of his rough morning, it would appear his good luck still holds.

With that reassuring thought he feels he can relax now. Acting nonchalantly, Neil walks in his personal dressing room. As soon as he enters he immediately starts checking himself out in the mirror. With a loud groan, he pouts over his now ruined, coffee-stained shirt.

"That'll never come out," he whines.

As Neil goes to take off his backpack and place it on the table in front of him, he notices at once a strange jacket draped over the chair beside him.

"Hm, this isn't one of mine," the blond teen ponders to himself.

Just then the door opens and a tall dark teen walks in. His hair is a brown shade with red highlights. He has a long face but with a broader chin. As soon as he notices Neil the stranger stops in his tracks and stares oddly at the blond teen. "What are you doing here?" He finally asks.

Neil gives him a skeptical look before coming to a conclusion as who this new stranger could be.

"Ah, you must be new here…" He says in a snobbish way.

"Um, yeah, I am." The darker teen responds sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Is this your jacket?" Neil asks him, gesturing toward the chair.

"Oh, yes it is. Nice isn't it?" The boy responds with a proud grin. "I got it when my aunt visited Paris!"

"Heh, charming…" Neil says, rolling his eyes skyward. "Ah, listen; there must be some misunderstanding here. In case you weren't told this is _my_ dressing room."

"Oh, I'm sorry…I was just to-" The boy begins to say, jerking his thumb out towards the hallway.

"Look that's ok. These things happen." Neil says, cutting the boy off and handing him his jacket. "Just go down the hall over there. That's where all the new models change."

"Ah…" The bewildered dark boy looks as though he is about to say something. Just then the photographer appears in the doorway. He looks up and notices Neil speaking to the new model.

"Neil…? What are you doing here?" Frankie asks, quite surprised.

Now Neil is a bit confused. "What are you talking about, Frankie? I'm scheduled for a shoot this morning, remember?"

"Huh…? Oooh…," Frankie flinches as though he had just remembered something. "Didn't you get my message?"

"Message…?" Neil raises his eyebrow in concern. "What message?"

Frankie grimaces. "Ah, can I talk to you in my office, Neil? I think there is something we need to discuss."

Neil gives the other boy a quick suspicious glance and, with some trepidation, the blond teen follows Frankie into his office.

As he walks over to the photographer's desk, Neil tries to offer his excuse. "Look, Frankie, if this is about being late I can explain…" But Frankie shakes his head and waves him to quiet down. Curious and a bit bewildered, Neil watches the redheaded man go over some of his recent pictures. None of the pictures, to Neil's surprise, are of him – only of the newcomer who had showed up in his changing room.

Finally Frankie lets out a sigh but does not look at him. "Do you know what kind of business I run here, Neil?" The photographer says quietly.

Neil tilts his head, feeling even more confused. "Ah… A modeling business…?" The blond teen replies carefully.

"A modeling business…" Frankie echoes. "And what do I need to have a successful modeling business?" He asks, looking up at the descendent of Narcissus at last.

"Um…models…?" Neil answers cautiously, unsure where this conversation is really heading. He automatically makes a pouting look as he ponders this in thought.

Frankie nods once. "That's right Neil. I need models – models I can count on to come for their scheduled appointments. You get where I'm headed with this?" The redheaded photographer gestures toward Neil.

"Er…If this is about me being a tad late this morning - as I said, I can explain…I got here as fast as I could." Neil answers with a perplexed expression written on his face.

"Yes, I can see that…" Frankie murmurs, glancing down at the coffee stain down his former model's shirt. "But you have to understand Neil; you haven't just been late this morning. In fact, you've been late a few times _and_ you have cancelled on me a few more due to some kind of _family emergency_ as you put it."

"So, what are you saying exactly, Frankie?"

The photographer sighs again, and, laying his chin on top of his folded hands with his elbows resting on his desk, he finally drops a bombshell; "I'm sorry Neil; I have to let you go…"

Neil's jaw drops open. "Let me get this straight," He is beside himself as he stammers, staring incredulously at the photographer, "You're _firing_ me?"

The photographer shrugs rather cold-heartily. "Sorry kid, but that's part of show business." With that he dismisses Neil before the young teen would utter a single word of protest.

As Neil leaves the studio and walks slowly down the hall as though in a daze, he pauses to gather his composure. The urge to break down and cry is too great. Taking a few deep breaths, Neil rests his head for a while in his hand. As soon as he knows he can control his emotions, Neil continues to walk out of the building. His head, though, is hanging forlornly down. It is as though all of his self-esteem has been left behind inside the studio.


	2. From Bad to Deadly Worse…

**Chapter 2: From Bad to Deadly Worse…**

Not knowing where to go, Neil wanders aimlessly around the neighborhood for hours. He eventually ends up in the park. A young skateboarder scoots down the path towards Neil, skidding through muddy puddle and splashing the blond teen as he passes him by. Neil lifts his dripping arm and looks dispiritedly down his side at his now-splattered clothes.

"Perfect," The blond groans sarcastically. He shakes off the excess moisture from his arm, and then slumps down gloomily on a nearby bench. "What else can go wrong today…?"

As if on cue the PMR goes off. Neil rolls his eyes skyward and mentally kicks himself for ever asking such an obvious question and reaches for the blue, high-tech walkie-talkie that everyone on the team has.

"Yeah, what is it?" He asks in a cranky voice into the PMR.

"_Neil, where are you now?"_ Jay's voice can be heard speaking at the receiving end.

"I'm in the park…why?"

"_Hermes told us that Cronus and his goons have been spotted from a satellite image at an abandoned factory a couple of miles out of town. We are needed to go investigate immediately."_

Neil's shoulders sags. "Oh _great_…" He replies in a sarcastic tone.

"_Meet us at the west end of the park. We will pick you up there!"_ Jay orders

"Fine…see you there…" The blond says irritably. He turns the conversation off and slips the PMR back into his pocket.

Neil pulls himself up from the bench and shuffles his feet all the way to the west end. He makes it just in time to see the familiar orange, decked-out, pick-up truck pulling up on the shoulder of the road.

"Neil! Come on man, hurry it up!" Odie hollers from the back seat.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" The now-former model grumbles.

"Geez, what is your problem?" Atlanta glares back at him from the front seat as he scrambles into the back seat of the truck beside Odie, Theresa, and Archie.

"Do you mind, I'm having a bad day here!" Neil shoots back.

"Well the whole world is going to have a bad day if we don't stop what ever Cronus is planning at this factory!" Jay calls out from the front seat. "Odie, any idea what Cronus would want with an abandoned factory?"

Odie peers down at his laptop computer. "He could want it for pretty much anything," The young dark teen says, checking it off with his fingers, "He could use it to store power, to hide unknown materials, or he could want to start up the old machines to build something. The possibilities are endless."

Jay nods grimly. "And all the more reason on why we need to get there fast!"

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Herry's truck comes to a stop just a few yards outside of the closed gates, and the young heroes spill out of the vehicle. There they observe the site more closely. The factory looks as if no one has been near there for at least twenty years. All seems a little too quiet for the seven teen heroes' liking. One by one, the teenagers each start climbing up the wire fence.

"Good thing the fence isn't electrified," Odie remarks to everyone, "Or else our butts would be cooked, that's for sure!"

As soon as everyone is safely over the fence, Jay turns to them.

"Keep your eyes peeled everyone," Jay instructs them before they begin walking up towards the old building, "Cronus could be up to anything here. We need to be prepared for whatever he may throw at us!"

As the group move toward the factory Neil, by habit, pulls out his mirror and opens it up. He examines his sad face and ponders if he will ever get his life back…or will this be the beginning of a downfall to his too-short modeling career? This whole thing just feels like a terrible nightmare. Once Neil was happy being a model, but now he feels achingly empty. The remaining question is how will his life end up without his career?

"Neil, put that thing away!" Archie snaps, passing the blond teen on his way toward the factory door. "We are trying to find Cronus, not to check if your hair is out of place!"

With a heavy sigh, Neil does as he is told, folding his mirror slowly. Just then something in the mirror's reflection suddenly catches Neil's attention. He glances up quickly and notices that everyone but Jay is moving ahead of him. Again, looking back at the reflection in the mirror, Neil can see Jay walking behind him – and to his horror Neil notices something forming out of nowhere behind the young, determined leader. Neil instantly recognizes this image; a glowing orange, oval-shaped portal doorway of a sort opening up to reveal a dark starry void. Surprisingly, Jay does not even notice it behind him, as he is too focused on what is ahead of him.

A dark hand emerges through the portal, holding a familiar, razor-sharp golden weapon. As this deadly scythe is being lifted slowly into the air, it doesn't take a psychic to know where it will fall upon.

"Jay…" Neil gasps in scarcely audible whisper.

The young leader sighs in irritation and looks at his blond teammate.

"Yeah, what is it, Neil…?"

All at once Neil drops his mirror, twirls around and rushes toward the startled Jay. "Duck!" He screams at his leader.

Cronus lunges out from his portal and quickly swings his scythe down. But it misses Jay by inches as Neil throws himself at him, knocking him down. Neil flinches and jerks back a bit as the sharp end of the blade snags into the fabric, ripping it open across his mid-section and leaving a big torn hole in his favorite shirt. Neil groans inwardly; now he knows it is definitely time to get a new shirt!

"Blast…! I missed!" The God of Time blurts out in a curse, angry that he had missed killing Jay on spot.

"Cronus!" Jay shouts as he jumps to his feet, pulling out his trusty xiphos. In a flash, the rest of the team rushes up and surrounds Cronus with their own weapons ready in hand. The God of Time sighs in defeat.

"It would appear my opportunity here has passed. _Time_ for me to go…" he grumbles, curling his lips up scornfully. Before the teenagers could move, he hastily lifts his hand up to summon his portal and quickly jumps through it to make good his escape.

"Man, I hate it when he does that!" Atlanta complains furiously. She starts kicking the sand beneath her feet in frustration.

"Tell me about it…" Archie groans in agreement.

"Whatever the case, guys, we got lucky this time…" Jay acknowledges quietly, thinking about how narrowly he had escaped being sliced in half. _I should thank Neil for saving my life_, he muses.

Meanwhile, Neil suddenly doesn't feel so good. _What's the matter with me?_ Puzzled, he turns away from the team. Something is not right and he's not sure why. He had pushed Jay out of the way of Cronus' scythe, and the deadly weapon hardly touched him. Neil doesn't even feel any pain at all. _ Looks like my luck had not ran out on me after all! _ But now, he begins to feel a stinging sensation in his mid-section. Absently he brings his hands up to his stomach. It isn't till Neil feels a warm dampness that he has a frightening thought what might be causing the now-inceasing pain. Slowly, fearfully, he glances down. Crimson liquid is steeping through his fingers. Neil begins to hyperventilate. _Oh, gods, no…!_

Theresa lifts her face. She could sense the blond teen's distress, but she doesn't understand why. Curiously, she glances over her shoulder and is surprised to see him trembling and holding his stomach tightly. The gentle warrior, concerned, approaches him. "Neil…?" She raises her voice softly, trying to act calm so as not to startle him.

Everyone's attention is now directed toward Neil. He is standing with his back toward them, so they can not see what is ailing him. Nevertheless, Jay smiles gratefully as he walks up toward the blond teammate.

"Hey Neil, thanks for the save! I mean, it was a good thing Cronus missed, huh?" He declares, patting the descendent of Narcissus warmly on the shoulder.

"Uh, Jay…" Neil whispers, slowly turning his pale face towards the brunette leader. "I wouldn't exactly say he missed…"

Carefully, Neil turns around and removes his hands from his stomach. Atlanta is the first to notice a long, gaping wound with insides exposed for all to see.

"Oh my God…! He's bleeding!" She cries out in shock. Indeed, the blood is steaming down out of the wound, soaking Neil's pants and what is left of his ragged shirt.

For a moment everyone stare with their jaws hanging open, too startled to do anything. But the next instant they rush toward Neil and catch him in their arms just as he collapses. Neil had turned deadly pale, and it is obvious that he is losing so much blood that he can not able to stand on his own two feet anymore.

"No!" Jay gasps, horrified. Panicked, he turns to the strongest member of the team. "Herry, quick! Go get the truck!"

"I'm on it!" Herry replies with a nod and runs off toward the gate.

Neil lets out a groan of agony as his friends try to get him to lie down as comfortably as possible.

"It's going to be ok, Neil…Say something…" Atlanta says, not knowing what else to say or do in this situation.

"…Ouch…" He replies in more of a reaction to the pain rather then a response to Atlanta.

"I'd say that pretty much sums it up." Archie glances down at Neil, his eyebrows knitted with worry.

The sound of the truck screeching and slamming through the gate caused all the other teens to look quickly up. Herry pulls the steering wheel around, causing the truck to skid in such a way that the back end of it is facing his friends. Odie runs over and pulls the back door down. Jay and Archie hurriedly but carefully gather Neil in their arms and carry him into the back of the truck. While they are going around making sure Neil is comfortable, Odie jumps in and search around frantically for the first aid kit he keeps in the back just for emergencies like this.

Herry pokes his head out of the window and looks back at the others who are settling Neil in the back end of the truck. "Where should we go? The hospital?" He calls out to them.

Jay looks around at Herry and shakes his head. "No, the school," He says firmly, "The hospital is too vulnerable in case Cronus comes back to attack. Especially if he finds out that Neil is hurt!" With that said, Jay jumps in the back, along with Odie, to be with Neil.

Just as Theresa is about to climb into the back seat she notices Neil's mirror lying open on the broken concrete that would have been a part of sidewalk towards the factory. She stops long enough to bend down and scoop it up. Theresa, however, doesn't notice a few shards of reflective glass falling off as she picks up the golden-framed mirror and closes it. Then, after looking around to make sure there is no more danger lingering around the factory, she slips into the back seat of the truck, with Atlanta taking her seat besides her.

Archie hops in the front seat beside Herry. He looks at the brawny teen and nods grimly. "Let's go!" He declares. With a squeal of wheels spinning in the dirt, the truck takes off at top speed, heading for their school.

Meanwhile, Jay brings Neil's head carefully onto his lap so it can be served as a pillow for the injured boy. Neil whimpers in pain as his body flinches again. At this point it doesn't matter which position he is in, the agony of this injury seems to hurt even more. Jay sighs sorrowfully at his obvious pain. "Oh, man," The young leader murmurs. He shakes his head regretfully, feeling truly helpless to do anything for his friend. Neil's eyes slowly open and look up at Jay and Odie.

"I-I'm sorry…" He manages to gasp, wearing a guilty expression on his face as he clutches at his stomach in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding himself. Jay and Odie looks at him in surprise.

"Why are you sorry about?" The bespectacled genius asks, having found the emergency first aid kit and has just taken out large rolls of bandages and a bottle of antibiotics.

"I got hurt…" The blond boy lets out a whimper. Jay shakes his head and grabs hold of Neil's bloody hands, drawing them away from his stomach in order for Odie to tend to Neil's wound.

"It's okay, Neil. It's okay," Jay tries to assure his stricken friend. "It's going to be all right. It's not your fault. We're taking you to the school, and you'll be okay in no time. Don't worry!"

Neil groans and closes his eyes. Jay and Odie exchanges quick, worried looks. _Hang on, Neil!_ The young leader thought anxiously, _please just hold on. We can't lose you, not now..._


	3. The Longest Ride

**(A/N: Just a quick announcement to let you know that I have updated my website and posted up pictures based on scenes from my fanfics. Details and links are on my profile page. Plus, a special thanks goes out to my beta reader, Tabby Tadavi! Enjoy this chapter, everyone.)**

**Chapter 3: The Longest Ride**

"I'm sorry Neil…" Odie apologizes as he hurriedly cuts away the blond teen's ruined shirt with his pocketknife. Neil whimpers in agony, more from sharp pains he is feeling rather than the dismay over the loss of his favorite shirt. Once Odie removes what was left of the shirt from Neil's torso, he becomes alarmed when he takes a quick inspection of the wound. Odie glances worriedly at his leader. "It looks really bad, Jay!"

Jay looks grim. "Do what you can, Odie." He says. Neil moans again, and Jay places a reassuring hand on the blond teammate's sweaty forehead.

Quickly Odie grabs three layers of large, thick gauze bandages and covers the wound with them. They were almost instantly soaked with blood. Odie grimaces and scrambles to grab another package of gauze bandages from the emergency first aid kit. Using his teeth the smallest member of the team rips the package open and hurriedly place more fresh bandages over Neil's bleeding stomach. They too were soaked in a few seconds. Odie furrows his brow in frustration.

"The bleeding won't stop! I can't stop the bleeding!" He cries out in anguish.

Hearing this, Neil's eyes snaps open and he lets out a terrified, panicky cry. Tears stream down from the corner of his eyes. He doesn't want to die! All he wants is for this day to end, not his life! Every time Odie piles more bandages against Neil's stomach, pressing them down, it causes excruciating pain shooting throughout his body. Again, Neil lets out a scream; he kicks the side of the truck and thrashes his body against Jay.

"Neil! Hold still, man, you're making it worse!" Odie shouts desperately.

Jay puts his arm around Neil's shoulders, while keeping the one hand still on his forehead, in hopes of calming him down. "Neil, listen to Odie. He's trying to help you!" The team leader says as calmly and firmly as he can. After a few tense minutes he gets the blond teen to settle down more or less comfortably against Jay's lap. "You're going to be ok, trust me." He says, patting Neil reassuringly on the shoulder.

Neil is panting, and after a minute he tries to speak with a trembling, lopsided smile, "Heh, tal-talk about having a b-bad day…"

"Yeah, this sure does qualify of having a bad day, Neil." The team leader agrees quietly. Without warning Neil starts coughing up small amounts of blood, and Jay grimaces with dismay.

This is the first time, since taking on the role to become one in charge of his team that Jay is at a loss of what to do. If he could, he would gladly trade places with Neil right now! Because he had been careless in the battle field, even for a moment, Neil took a hit that was meant for him. At this thought a pain of guilt stabs Jay in the pit of his stomach. Sighing sadly, Jay begins stroking absently the golden hair on the young narcissist's head. The emotional impact of this disaster is getting too much for him to bear. Jay's brow wrinkles, and his eyes slowly filled with tears. Glancing down at the stricken teammate, Jay's lower lip quivers. He's a leader, after all, and everyone on his team is his responsibility. And not only that, he cares for each of his friends deeply. If Neil dies, Jay alone would bear the blame for his death. Jay bows his head, and tears starts tickling down his handsome face.

Neil recovers from fits of coughing and looks up at Jay and Odie. He notices the distress on their face and realizes they are upset because of him. Once again the tears roll down from his blue eyes again, not because of his injury, but because of guilt. These six teenage heroes have been there for him so many times, they had helped get him out of so many dangerous situations, and yet, what has Neil done for them? Neil feels like a fool; he had thought he was an important member to the team. After all, he's the seventh member of the team, and not only that, but the seventh _lucky_ member. Is that his only contribution to their cause, his _luck_…and that is all? Obviously, he hasn't been very lucky today. Goes to show how useful he really is! He's about to die, and there is nothing to show for it. _What kind of hero am I?_ He muses to himself bitterly.

In the past his only concern had been his own self-worth. He didn't have close friends to worry about. His own family, and not to mention the free-lance model agency, have always taken care of him. Basically, before all of this hero business started with the appearance of Cronus, Neil hardly have any worries at all.

Now, for some reason, none of that seems so important anymore. His modeling career is over now anyway. Even if his photographer/agent changes his mind and calls him back for a shoot, he will be shunned because of a big scar across his stomach. He will never be seen as someone who embodied charisma and perfection. _ No…I'm not perfect anymore, and will never be again, for ever! _That seems to scare him most of all.

The world around him is growing dark. This creates more fear and confusion in Neil's mind. A soft whimper escapes from between his lips as reality hits him. This is it. This is the first sign of death. How is it that his life has come to this? If he dies now, what will his friends think of him? Will they hate him, and curse his name for abandoning them when they needed him the most? He can see it now; Cronus winning and taking over the world, and the defeated gods and his teammates blaming him for dying on them and allowing this to happen. Without realizing it, Neil's hands and arms begin to tremble and twitch as if he is cold.

Odie notices Neil shivering. Instantly, the dark-skinned genius becomes quite anxious. This is the first sign that Neil is going into shock, and it usually means bad news.

"Neil, I want you to try and relax, ok?" He says to his wounded teammate. "I am putting on more gauze bandages, hopefully to stop the bleeding, but I want you to lie still. Alright?"

The blond boy blinks blankly at his dark-skinned friend, his eyes already becoming unfocused. Then he nods. "Kay," He mumbles.

His hands clutching the steering wheel tightly until the knuckles turn white, Herry drives down the road as fast as he can, the trees blurring past him. Finally he is relieved to see the city lights up ahead. If there was ever a time when Neil could use his powers of luck, it's now! As he turns onto the main street, the stalwart hero hopes fervently that he won't run though any red lights, or worse, have a cop pull him over. It suddenly occurred to Herry that he does not hear any more banging and screaming going on in the back of his truck. The silence is terrifying. He gives Archie a worried look. "Archie!"

The young punk boy looks at him in surprise, raising his eyebrows and wondering why Herry is giving him a panicked look. "What…?" He begins, but Herry interrupts him.

"Go check in the back… Something is not right!" Herry demands, jerking his chin towards the back end of his truck.

Archie understands at once. He doesn't say anything, but nods his head and then he climbs into the backseat to sit down between Atlanta and Theresa. "What's going on back there?" He asks the two girls, jabbing his thumb backward behind him.

Atlanta looks anxious. "As far as we can tell, Neil's bleeding…a lot." She answers him in a shaky tone. Theresa looks just as worried, even grim-faced, but she tries to sound positive.

"It would seem the guys have managed to calm him down though." The pretty redhead says in a hopeful tone.

"Okay, let me see," Archie turns around in his seat and peers through the small window into the end area where Jay, Odie, and the injured Neil are. The metal floor where Neil is lying is covered in blood. Odie had just finishes putting another batch of fresh gauze bandages on top of Neil's open wound.

The young punk knocks on the glass to get Jay's attention. As soon as he has his leader's attention, Archie calls out, "Herry wants to know how Neil is!"

Jay looks down at the boy leaning against his lap. Neil blinks heavily with an odd cough now and then to regain his breath. Both Jay and Archie could see that Neil's breathing is very irregular. Seeing his injured teammate shivering doesn't seem too good either, and the fact his face looking so dreadfully white is quite alarming. Jay turns toward Archie, his tormented brown eyes glistening with tears of worry and even guilt.

"He's still hanging in there…" Jay murmurs. Then louder; "Archie, how much further are we to the school?"

Archie looks over his shoulder toward Herry at the steering wheel. He can see through the front windshield the city streets glittering ahead. The punk with the purple mullet mentally estimates the distance on their way to their destination. "I'm guessing we're about fifteen minutes away!" He says, turning back to Jay. "Is there anything you want me to do?"

"15 minutes?" The team leader's haggard face looks stricken. "Just tell Herry to drive faster if he can!" He cries in an urgent voice. "We must hurry; we can't afford to lose any more time!"

Surprised by Jay's anguished tone, Archie nods quickly and returns to the front seat. "Herry," He says, looking right at the big, gentle teammate, "Jay says you must drive faster if you can!"

Herry doesn't protest. "You got it!" He replies, and makes a hard left turn into another street into the city. This nearly causes an accident with several other incoming cars. Angry curses puncture the air as the other drivers shout, shake their fists and honk their horns at Herry's seemingly erratic driving. The brawny teen just ignores them and keeps on driving grimly at top speed.

"So…" Herry glances at Archie out of the corner of his eye. The young punk is wearing a long frown on his face and he is looking away into the darkness. This worries Herry. "So How's Neil?" He finally asks.

Archie slowly turns his head to him. When he speaks, he sounds gruff but quite distressed. "Don't ask." The young punk says tersely. Herry turns his attention back to the road, and finds himself blinking with sudden tears brimming in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Odie is busy applying a few last layers of fresh gauze bandages on the Neil's wound. Almost instantly the large white cotton squares turns dark red. Odie shakes his head in despair, frustrated that Neil won't stop bleeding. But then the young genius realizes sometimes, and looks at his friend more closely. Neil is already as pale as he is right now, but his eyes have rolled up in his head and he lay limply, like a rag doll. A trickle of blood is already oozing down from the corner of his mouth. Odie's anxiety raises a few notches. He has no idea if Neil is slipping into unconsciousness; nevertheless, Odie anxiously grabs Neil's arm and tries to feel the pulse. It is weak, so weak that the young genius becomes frightened. This is bad, very bad. "Jay! We're losing him!" The panicked Odie shrieks to Jay in terror.

The team leader has been quietly and miserably berating himself for not having the foresight to see this coming – Cronus sneaking up behind Jay and attempting to assassinate him. If only he would pay extra careful attention around himself…and then none of this would happen to Neil! _It's all my fault, _Jay castigates himself bitterly.

Odie's terrified screaming jolt Jay out of his deep, despairing thoughts. He looks quickly down and is horrified to see the blond teen's precarious condition. "No!" Jay shouts and starts shaking Neil's shoulders and slapping the unresponsive boy's face frantically. "Neil! Come on, Neil, open your eyes! Look at me!"

With great effort, Neil's eyes flutter open. He struggles to focuses them on his leader. Jay finds it hard to control the tears streaming down from his eyes.

"Neil, you've got to listen to me!" Jay sniffles back the tears and tries to regain his composure. "You can't give up! You're not a quitter, are you Neil?"

Slowly Neil shakes his head. "No," he replies in a weak, barely audible whisper.

"Good! Cause I don't have quitters on my team, and _you_ _are_ a member of this team, right Neil?"

Neil is taken aback. Of course he is on the team! He had been hoping to be accepted by Jay and the others as a full-fledged member and a true warrior. But there were moments that even Neil, himself, had doubts about his role and about being a part of this team. One thing he knows for sure – that he would not have traded his adventures with these six heroes for anything in the world. Still, the last thing he wants them to think of him as both a quitter and failure to the entire team. This is something he definitely does NOT want to be remembered about, should anything happen to him!

With as soft, whimpering sob, Neil nods ever so slightly. "Yes…"

"That's good! I want you to promise me something, ok?"

The blond boy blinks heavily and tries to peer again at his friend again. "Ok…" The gravely wounded teen whispers again. Jay's eyes are brimming with tears of emotion.

"Promise me that you won't give up!" The leader says firmly in a choking voice, "You have to promise me that, Neil! Not just for the prophecy, but for the rest of us too. You are our friend, and we don't want to lose you, not like this…do you hear me? So I want you to promise that you won't give up. Can you do that?"

Neil struggles to reply. "I…I…pr-prom…promise… I promise…" Even just uttering a single word proves too exhausting for him, but he knows now that friends are counting on him. Neil can't die. They are depending on him! If he dies now, he will be considered as a failure…and this is something he does not want to happen!

Through his tears, Odie searches desperately for more gauze bandages from the first aid bag, but finds none. He doesn't like the fact his blond friend is still bleeding heavily. He has a nagging doubt that Neil would make it at all, regardless of his promise to Jay not to give up. Again the African-Canadian boy looks at Neil anxiously; he can see that Neil continues fading slowly, yet making a considerable effort to stay awake while Jay continues to talk to him.

"We're here!" Herry hollers suddenly from his driver's seat.

"Guys!" Theresa calls to the back of the truck through the small open window, her voice obviously relieved. "We made it to the school!"

Jay feels a sudden surge of hope. "Neil, did you hear that?" He exclaims eagerly to his injured friend, gently shaking Neil's head to make sure he is still conscious, "We are at the school now!"

"Yeah…" Neil whispers, his voice trailing off. His eyelids feel even heavier than before, and it is getting harder to keep them open.

The orange truck barrels into the parking lot, skidding to a stop right at the front doors of the school, so close enough that the heroes could carry their wounded friend inside the building without wasting precious moments.

Grim-faced, Herry and Archie leap out of the front seats of the truck. The girls likewise jump out and run to the front doors, throwing them wide open to make way for Neil to be ushered in. However, the instant Herry and Archie look into the back of the truck they let out a loud, horrified gasp. The concerned girls come running back to have a look for themselves as well. They knew it would be bad, but the amount of Neil's blood everywhere makes the back area of the truck look like a battle field. For a moment they stare with their jaws hanging open, totally at loss what to say. But Jay quickly takes control of the situation.

"Ok, here we go, Neil! We are going to move you now!" Jay declares. The injured teen can only reply with a whimpering sigh as both Jay and Odie maneuver his limp body into Herry's waiting arms. Neil's arm sticks out awkwardly at an angle, so Archie gently places it across blond boy's torso just before Herry lifts him, cradling him in his arms. As soon as Jay and Odie jump out they all move quickly into the school.

The echoing sounds of six pairs of frantic shoes stomping reverberate through the hallway until they come to a stop at a familiar closet door with the word 'Janitor' painted on it. Quickly Jay takes out his golden Pendant Key and sticks it onto the special lock above the doorknob. The dial on the medallion starts ticking, moving slowly around toward the specially marked symbol on the top.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on…" Jay mutters, his hand motioning impatiently toward the Pendant Key as if he could force the medallion by sheer will to hurry up and unlock the door.

Finally the door swings open. Theresa and Odie are the first to dash into the closet. Jay follows right behind them, and Herry rushes in after him with Neil still cradled in his arms. Archie and Atlanta are the last to make it inside.

Archie catches up to Herry's side and peers over at their injured friend. "Is Neil still breathing?"

Herry looks down. For one horrified moment he thought Neil had truly stopped breathing, until he notices his friend's chest moving – but only just.

"Barely," Herry says tersely to the young punk.

Atlanta overhears him. She comes up around behind Herry and puts her hand on Neil's shoulder.

"Hang on, ok Neil. Chiron will fix you up…he has to!" She says in a shaky voice. Again Neil, barely conscious, responds with a whimper to let her know he has heard and acknowledged her.

Once they reach a certain wall Theresa pulls on the light switch and the magical blue portal spirals open. Atlanta makes a head start, running into the portal ahead of the rest of the teen heroes.

Hera, Chiron, Aphrodite, Hercules, Ares, Persephone, and Artemis are in a private meeting in Hera's Aviary, relaxing and drinking their warm, honeyed beverage while they discuss a new training exercise which they agreed their seven heroes would need to learn the following day. Their quiet moment is shattered, however, when the running footsteps of anxious teens are heard approaching toward them from down the hall.

"What…?" Suddenly feeling something is terribly wrong; Hera hastily gets up from her chair, hurries toward the door and open it to look out into the hallway.

Atlanta is the first to run around the corner and, seeing the open door, burst right into the chamber of the startled Gods.

"Hera…! Chiron…!" She pants, trying to regain her breath to speak. Once she recovers, the fiery red-head finally barks out hoarsely; "We have a medical emergency!"

"What's going on?" Chiron looks concerned. Just then Jay and the others come running into the chamber as well, with Herry right behind them. Neil, still in Herry's burly arms, looks so pale, so lifeless from the apparent loss of blood that the Gods immediately stand up in shock.

Before anyone else has a chance to utter one word, Aphrodite starts shrieking. "NEIL!!" The Goddess of Love screams, running frantically over to her young blond protégé. Cupping Neil's face in her hands, she searches his face anxiously. "Neil, look at me darling!" She demands in a soft, quivering voice.

With a whimpering breath, Neil forces his eyes to open again and looks at her. He recognizes Aphrodite, his beautiful mentor. She is such a welcoming sight. He tries to smile at her, but a pain of guilt hits him as he realizes that he must look quite dreadful, bleeding and all. Surely he is unworthy of being in her presence in this horrible condition! However, he no longer has the strength to keep his eyes open. He closes his eyes then, and his body feels even heavier. He isn't sure, but Neil swears he can hear hooves of a galloping horse heading his way.

"Quickly, give him to me!" Chiron commands, holding out his broad arms.

Herry does not hesitate; he lifts Neil up a bit so the centaur can gather the badly injured teen into his arms. The second Chiron has Neil in his arms; he gallops off as fast as he can down the hallway toward Dionysus' lab, which doubles as a medical room just for the emergencies such as Neil's case.

The other Gods all get up and follow silently after Chiron. Unsure what to do, the remaining young heroes looks worriedly at each other for a moment. Then, deciding they should go in and show their support for Neil, they attempt to follow the Gods into the lab. But just then Hera turns around and shakes her head brusquely at them.

"Wait here," she commands in a stern voice. The heroes stop dead in their tracks, staring in surprise at her. Hara merely looks gravely at them for a few seconds and then, quietly but firmly, she closes the doors on them before Atlanta would even think to dash in through them.

With the look of disbelief, the descendant of Artemis stares fixedly at the closed doors. _'This isn't happening,'_ Atlanta whines internally. She turns to her friends with tears running down her face. "Neil's going to be ok, isn't he? I mean he's supposed to be the _lucky one_, right?" She sobs uncontrollably.

Archie happens to be the closest to her. He sighs sadly and gently places his reassuring hand on her shoulder. Unexpectedly, Atlanta leans into him, buries her face in his chest and starts weeping nosily. At first Archie is stunned at her unexpected breakdown. He had never seen her so fragile before. Instinctively, he wraps his arms around her and cuddles her. Her uncontrollable shaking and muffled sobs causes a flood of emotion to erupt in him. To his surprise, he starts crying as well.

Herry glances down at his blood-stained arms where he had cradled Neil's near-lifeless body. Slowly he sits down on a nearby staircase with a blank look on his face. He is too shocked to think straight; he can't tell how he should feel about this right at this moment.

Jay is shaking, too wrought up to do anything. _'Their fates are in your hands…'_ Hera's voice echoes in his mind. That is what she said after he came to school for the first time. How could he be so foolish, not realizing that the mission to the old abandoned factory was a trap? No doubt it is a trap, indeed, that is meant for him! Because of his needless inattention Neil is injured, even dying. _Dying. _Unable to hold it in, Jay lets out a despairing sob. He leans against the wall, slides down until he is sitting on the floor with his head hanging down. He put his trembling hand to his tear-soaked face.

Looking sorrowfully at Jay, Theresa decides to sit down beside him. She put her arms around his shoulders and pulls him closer to her for support. Tears run down her cheeks as she worries about their blond friend who is now being cared for in the other room.

Odie sits down opposite to Jay and Theresa. Of all the friends he had known, he is surprised that it has come to this. What would he do if Neil dies? Odie bites down on his lower lip and wipes away a tear that is trying to escape from his eye.

All six teens know that this extremely grave situation is not a simple thing to solve. It's not like the other time when Jay was poisoned by a Chimera. When Jay was hovering between death and life, the others had known what they could do to try and save him. They had traveled all the way to the underworld in order to fetch some rare Asphodel flowers, and those flowers had cured their leader before it was too late. Thanks to their excellent teamwork, Jay had survived.

But with Neil, it is whole another story entirely. No, indeed, it was not like when Jay is nearly dead himself. All they could do is bringing Neil to the school, and that was the only thing they could think of. Now the six teen heroes have no choice but to wait and see if Neil will survive.

That is, if Neil ever survives at all…


	4. Hold Your Breath

_A/N: First off, I would like to thank my beta-reader, Tabby Tadavi, her help is most appreciative. Second, I would like to thank everyone who has posted a review. Both my beta-reader and I have enjoyed them. We also would like to apologize for the delay in updating chapter 4. Our busy schedules have us somewhat limited to our spare time fanfiction writing. _

_All-in-all, hope you will enjoy chapter 4. Please don't forget to post any comments you may have. I look forward in hearing what you have to say. Thank you._

**Chapter 4: Hold Your Breath**

Somewhere out there in the other dimension where time is practically nonexistent, Cronus is pacing angrily back and forth in his spacious chamber. The four frightened giants cower, huddling fearfully close to the wall in an attempt to distance themselves as far as possible from their boss who is muttering hotly under his breath. Finally Cronus stopped and turned to face Agnon and his companions.

"Why do those annoying kids have to be so lucky?" He shouts at them. His veins are practically throbbing visibly in his forehead.

Bewildered, the giants grunt in reply with confusion written on their grotesque faces. One by one they shrug, indicating that they don't have an answer to Cronus' question.

"I mean, the plan was perfect," Cronus resumes pacing, his attention already turned away from the giants. "We would set a decoy at the abandoned factory and as those bratty teenagers try tracking us down I'd ambush them by striking Jay down from behind. You know what they say, if the leader goes down, they all go down!" The evil Time God muses over what should have been his most brilliant plan, only it did not go as he had expected. He scowls angrily over the fact.

"If it wasn't for a stroke of chance that blond, self-centered brat looking in his mirror at the exact moment I was making my appearance to take Jay down…" he materializes one of his golden scythes into his hand and shakes it furiously at the giants, "I would be celebrating my victory right about now! But instead I'm…"

Cronus stops suddenly, for he notices something out of place on his shiny weapon. He brings it closer and peers carefully at the tip of his scythe. "What's this?" The Time God mutters in surprise at the sight of a thin, crimson smear on the mirror-like blade. His eyes are not deceiving him, however; his keen nose had picked up the unmistakable odor of human blood. An evil grin of unholy glee spreads across his craggy face. "Could it be possible…?" He asks to no one in particular.

The giants again shrug and glance uneasily at each other. They are not sure what their boss is talking about, but at this moment they are just glad Cronus is not yelling at them, for now. They watch Cronus walk over to his scrying pool. The dark God peers down at the swirling murky water, waiting until it clears up to reveal the vision of the exact moment just after Cronus left the seven teens at the old abandoned factory. With an insane chuckle, Cronus watches with glee as he sees Neil clutching at his bleeding stomach just before he collapses into friends' outstretched arms.

"It would seem that that boy's luck may have finally run out. Perhaps there is a chance the prophecy can be broken after all!" With that, Cronus cackles enthusiastically.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The six weary teens are waiting apprehensively in Hera's Aviary room for the news of their fallen comrade. Time seems to drag on; it has been only two hours and a half, and yet it feels like forever. None of the kids had spoken to each other since Chiron and the other Gods took Neil to Dionysus' lab. Needless to say the young heroes are very anxious to know what is happening with their friend right now.

Atlanta, worn out from her tearful outbursts, is lying on one of the two couches across from each other, with her head resting comfortably on a green satin cushion. Her eyes blink slowly and drowsily, but she is still too upset to doze off anyhow. Archie is sitting wearily on the other end of the same couch, Atlanta's feet barely touching his thighs. His elbow rests on the arm of the couch, with his head leaning heavily onto his upturned palm. Odie, still in a state of shock, is sitting on the floor with his back against the couch the two fastest members of the team sit. For a long time he scarcely moved from his sitting spot. At one time the young genius glances down at his blood-stained hands and clothes, and a part of him wants to throw up. He can't stop thinking it over and over how Neil was suffering and bleeding practically to death on their way to the school. Heavy-hearted, Odie sighs and wishes once again that he could have found a way a lot sooner to save Neil's life. He fears it may be too late for Neil, just too late….

Meanwhile, Jay and Theresa, sit opposite from the others. The leader of the group is still grief-stricken over what had happened to Neil. He is afraid to look up at his teammates, but he can sense their worried thoughts. _It's all my fault_, he berated himself again, and a tear trickles down his cheek.

Theresa, still sitting next to Jay, is replaying the scene at the old abandon factory over and over in her mind. Why couldn't she sense Cronus? She knew danger was all around…even so, by the time Cronus appeared through his portal and Neil shouted 'duck,' it was too late. Could it be because her focus was too much on all directions that she had troubles pinpointing the exact danger? Or perhaps there were the Giants, servants of Cronus, lurking around the factory…their unseen presences could be what distorted her sixth sense? In any case, Neil is badly injured now and there was nothing Theresa can do about it but sit there, staring glumly down at the folded golden three-panel mirror with Neil's first initial engraved on it. She hopes Neil will be okay, but she has a sinking feeling that he might not even make it after all.

Herry continues to sit on the staircase, although earlier he had paced the room restlessly for a while, worrying about Neil. He still feel numb inside, and as he stares down at the dried blood on his hands and arms, his forehead wrinkles. During the entire time he carried Neil from his truck into the school, Herry had feared that his blond friend would die before they would reach the Gods. And, after seeing how serious the former model's injury was, the brawn teen fears there may be no chance of Neil coming out of this alive. This is certainly a fate he couldn't see in anyone's future, no matter how annoying they are sometimes! Never have he feel so helpless, not knowing what will happen to Neil at this moment!

Suddenly one of the doors opens, causing the five teens to sit straight up expectantly. Finally, after hours of waiting, someone is coming to meet the young heroes with possible news about Neil! When she hears the sounds of tiny hooves clopping across the floor, Atlanta slowly opens her eyes. The moment she sees who it is her eyes widen with surprise and she sits up to take a better look at the solemn-looking figure entering the room. It turns out to be a portly, middle-aged balding satyr.

However, instead bearing the news about Neil, the satyr looks around at the teens until his eyes falls upon Jay, Herry and Odie. He nods toward them and proclaims, "Hera has sent me to get you three cleaned up."

Herry and Odie blink and look at him with surprise. But Jay brushes the satyr's instructions aside and instead blurts out: "How is Neil…? Do you know…?" He leans forward, looking pleadingly at the old satyr.

The mythical creature shakes his head sadly. "I'm sorry, I don't," he answers, "Now if you please, follow me so you can wash and change from those dirty clothes. A few Nymphs will arrive soon with warm beverages and something to eat for all of you."

The six young heroes exchange quick glances at each other with uncertainty. Then, with a silent nod to Herry and Odie, Jay is the first to stand up.

"Okay," Jay says, and then looks at Archie. "If you hear any news of Neil, let me know." Wordlessly Archie responds to that with a simple nod of his head.

Mutely Odie and Herry rise from their seats and, along with their leader and the old little satyr, they file out of the room.

As they head down the hallway the satyr gives a quick glance back at the tall brawny teen. "By the way, Herry, Hephaestus instructed me to tell you that he has your truck in his workshop and is cleaning it for you." The little goat-man tells him.

"Huh…?" Herry has been too absorbed in his thoughts to take notice of anyone talking to him, but the mention of his name caught his attention. "Ok," He replies in a weak tone.

The satyr leads the three boys into a spa-like washroom. In the middle of the room is what looks like a large round stainless steel sink. On a bench beside the sink is the boys' clean gym clothes laid out along with fresh white towels.

"Well, I shall leave you boys to get yourselves washed and changed," The satyr instructs before making his exit, "Be sure you toss your dirty clothes into that bin over by the wall. I'll return in a few minutes to take you back to Hera's Aviary room."

With a heavy sigh the three boys take off their shirts and begin washing the blood off from their hands, arms, and even their faces. None of them spoke a word but finish scrubbing down before they can put on a clean pair of pants and shirt. Afterwards, they feel a bit better but their hearts still ache with anxiety, wondering about the condition Neil is in. If only they would give anything to hear Neil's annoying laughter once again!

They have scarcely tossed their bloody clothes into the bin when the satyr returns.

"Oh good, you are done." He says, glancing over at the young heroes. "Come, I'll take you back to join with the others."

Before the satyr could take another step out of the spa, however, Jay speaks up again. "There isn't a chance you could tell us what is going on with Neil, is there?"

Satyr grimaces. "I'm sorry, but the Gods won't say." He answers regretfully, "They only instructed me and the Nymphs to look after you kids."

Jay, Odie, and Herry's shoulders slump in defeat. Without any more words they continue their march back to Hera's room.

When the boys return to Hera's room the other kids are already being served with warm tea, fruit, and some crackers. Scarcely have Jay, Herry, and Odie sit down than the Nymphs started handing them warm cups of freshly brewed Greek tea. Herry and Odie absently accept the tea from the Nymphs, but Jay tries to wave off the temptation.

"I'm good," he grunts, making himself comfortable on the couch where Theresa and Herry are sitting. He looks right at Archie and queries, "Anything yet…?"

Archie is about to bite into a cracker when he looks up. With a blank look but in a tone of quiet despair, he shakes his head and replies, "No." There is nothing more to say. Archie bits down the cracker, even though he really isn't that hungry.

"Jay, please have some tea." The Nymph with short pink hair pleads.

Jay looks up and notices a tired, sad expression on the Nymph's beautiful face. She appears to have been crying earlier this evening. He looks over and sees the same expression on the other Nymph with long blue hair who is serving Theresa and Atlanta. This reminds Jay of the legend of Narcissus when all the Nymphs, including Echo, had mourned the loss of the young Greek hero's life centuries ago. The combination of fear and anxiety sits in his stomach like a cold stone. What if Neil does not survive? If anything happens to Neil, it would certainly be Jay's fault!

The persistent Nymph pushes the cup closer to Jay's face. "Please…" she says, almost begging.

Deciding not to be rude this time, Jay gives in and accepts the tea. "Thanks," he says with a sigh. But does not drink from it right away; instead, he stares down absently at the steaming tan liquid. His thoughts are on what the outcome might be.

Somewhat satisfied that the six young heroes are drinking and snacking on the food they had brought in for them, the two Nymphs noiselessly leave the room.

Once again the silence permeates the room. No one is speaking due to the swarm of thoughts running through their heads. Finally, after gazing briefly at the golden monogrammed three-panel mirror again, Theresa lifts her head.

"Jay," she begins, "I know what you are thinking. Please don't blame yourself! We all feel the same guilt, too." Theresa pauses, waiting for Jay to reply, but he remains silent. She sighs and continues, "If we were all paying a little more attention to what was going on all around us, we might have spotted Cronus before he appeared through his portal…"

Jay interrupts her with a slow shake of his head. "Theresa, I appreciate what you are saying, but you are all my responsibility. If I let one of you down, I let all of you down." He says quietly in a voice full of regrets.

"We are a _team_ Jay," Atlanta points out suddenly. "We stick together! Isn't that what you keep saying?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Yeah, but _what_?" Archie interrupts Jay, "Theresa and Atlanta have a point. If you say that you let Neil down, then we all did!" Even though he is just as stricken as everybody else, his voice has taken on a bit of a characteristic aggressive tone.

Herry is nodding in agreement, and Odie decides to speak up as well. "They're right Jay." The young genius declares, "We all have a responsibility in this, not just you!"

Once again the room is filled with silence. Jay is a loss for words. He looks down, letting his head falls into his upturned hand. The tears swell up in his eyes, but they do not fall. He understands that they are trying to mitigate his guilt…still, he keeps wishing had never happened to Neil - or anyone else on his team!

With a sigh Theresa returns her attention to Neil's mirror. This time, however, she can't seem to shake the feeling that something is not right about it. Gently, the young clairvoyant girl opens the panels to look inside. To her surprise pieces of the reflective glass spills out from it and falls to the floor. Her gasp causes the other teens to turn and look at her curiously.

"What is it Theresa?" Atlanta asks.

"Neil's mirror, guys… it broke." She answers, holding up what is left of the three-panel golden framed monogrammed mirror.

"Oh man, Neil won't be too happy when he finds out!" Archie groans. There is a hint of guilt in his voice as he said this.

Jay looks away and frowns unhappily, remembering how Neil had dropped it when he rushed forward to push him away from Cronus' scythe.

Herry is about to nibble absent-mindedly on a cracker, but after hearing Theresa's comment he puts it down, looking thoughtful. "You know," he says slowly, "All the times Neil has dropped his mirror… I never notice it ever breaking before."

Odie shrugs. "It probably hit the cement sidewalk at the right angle which caused the glass to shatter like that." He points out.

But Atlanta looks a little shaken. "B-but he's supposed to be lucky. Things like this shouldn't happen, right?" She says uneasily.

"Well, Neil did mention he was having a bad day earlier." Archie points out.

"Hmm…" Now Jay is looking thoughtful, too. "I wonder what had happened to him this morning. He was rather moody when we picked him up at the park."

"Guess even Neil can be prone to bad luck once and awhile," Theresa remarks, "Like the time he was taken by the Stymphalian birds."

"Yeah," Herry turns to Theresa, "But didn't his luck come through, saving us from the birds and Cronus too?"

"That's right," Jay nods, "Also when we were dealing with ant solders. He was stung by ant venom, but thanks to his luck he was able to bring back one of the collars and one of the ants. We were able to find ways to stop Cronus, not to mention save and transform the soldiers back to humans after that."

Odie smiles faintly. "I'll never forget that mission, that's for sure!" He chuckles wryly, bringing his cup up to take a sip of the tea inside.

"You know," Jay sits straight up and face the others, "The more we think about this, the more we realize in Neil's own quirky way he is indeed an important member to the team!"

At this his remaining teammates look down, each taking a moment to reflect on what Jay is saying. They silently admit that they are just not a team without Neil. No matter what his flaws might be, he is a huge asset to them!

Theresa smiles slightly. "I wonder what Neil would say if he heard us talk about him like this?" She asks absently. The others don't say anything. Silence filled the room once again, leaving them absorbed in their own thoughts.

One of the doors swings open, and the young heroes all look up. To their relief it is Hera herself, just stepping into the room. Eagerly and anxiously Jay and the others immediately jump out of their seats, practically stepping over each other as they rush desperately toward her. But when they reaches her, they are too emotionally wounded up to speak anything…they can only gaze at the Goddess with beseeching eyes.

For a moment Hera stands silently inside the doorway, not uttering one word just yet. As she raises her eyes to meet theirs, her face seems even more deeply etched with weary lines. At this point the kids are practically holding their breath, not knowing if she is about announce good news…or bad news. As they wait to hear what Jay's mentor would say, Hera's eyes move from one face to another, scrutinizing them solemnly. Only the sound of a nearby wall clock can be heard ticking, second by second, minute by minute.

It is getting unbearable. The young teens wish she would just hurry up and say something about their friend Neil, while at the same time they dread it might be some bad news - and this is something they can not deal with right now! Regardless of what is going through their minds, all six heroes resolve to listen attentively should Hera speaks.

Finally Hara takes a deep breath and nods once. "He's going to be ok." She says at last.

Jay and the others totter for a minute or two and then fall back on the couches, letting out a simultaneous sigh of relief. Those are the very words they are hoping to hear!

"Needless to say Neil is very lucky to be alive," Hara continues, still looking solemn, "He's lost a lot of blood, though. It's a good thing we had you kids donate a couple of pints of your own blood last week just in case of emergencies like this."

"You think we could go see him?" Theresa asks tentatively.

"Yeah, can we?" Atlanta says in a quiet voice, barely above a whisper.

Hara shakes her head regretfully.

"That would not be advisable, children. Right now Neil is being transported to Aphrodite's room so he may rest," She replies, "Even as I speak, a few satyrs are settling up some cots for the rest of you in the training room. Considering what you have gone through today, it would be easier if you rest here tonight." She sighs, sounding even more tired. "You may see Neil first thing in the morning, I promise."

"Hera," Jay says suddenly, standing up to face Hara on an eye-to-eye level. "With all due respect, I believe I speak for everyone here when I say that we won't be able to rest until we actually see for ourselves that Neil is ok!"

The other five teens immediately stand up behind their leader, nodding their heads and asserting their agreement loudly.

Realizing it is useless to dissuade the determined teens from seeing Neil in person, Hera takes a deep breath. "Very well," she sighs again, "I shall alert Aphrodite to expect your visit, but you must keep in mind that Neil has undergone a lot of stress and needs time to sleep."

The young heroes all look at each other turning their attention back to Hera.

"We understand," Atlanta says, and the others nod in agreement.

"Alright then; give me five minutes and I'll come get you when they have Neil settled." Thus said, the queen of the Gods turns around and left the room as silently as she had came in.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

In Aphrodite's room the light is dimmed except for a number of white candles which are lit to provide a relaxing ambiance. Nevertheless, it is enough for Aphrodite and the Nymphs to see to getting Neil settled into the Goddess's warm shell bed so he would be able to sleep comfortably in it. The cushions are stacked under the blond teen's head, to levitate it slightly. A warm purple blanket is draped over him, covering his legs right up to his waist. Aries and Hercules who carried the young injured hero into the room had left just moments ago, leaving the Nymphs to place fresh flowers in water pots to brighten the place up a bit. The pots are conveniently placed all around the room, especially near the mirrors so it looks like there are twice as many flowers. Aphrodite, herself, is lying next to Neil on the bed so she can brush his blond locks out of his eyes. Each lazy stroke relaxes the young hero until he is near the point of slumbering.

A soft rapping sound from the door turns Aphrodite's attention away from her young injured prodigy. Usually she would become quite lascivious at the thought of visitors coming in to see her, but this time she has concerns only for her guest instead.

"Aphrodite…?" The Nymph with long blue hair turns toward her with a wrinkled brow.

"Go ahead and let them in." The Goddess of Love answers softly.

The Nymph gives a respective bow to the Goddess and walked down the stairs from the shell bed, heading for the door. She carefully opens it and smiles at the sight of the six anxious teen heroes waiting to enter.

Jay is the first to enter the room. "How is he…?" He asks tentatively.

"He's resting, but you may go on up to see him." The Nymph replies, gesturing toward the short stairway to the shell bed.

Aphrodite looks over at them and smiles warmly at the young heroes. All six of them smile back, for they can feel the love radiating from her, especially the boys. But they are not here to visit the Goddess of Love, though. They are here for Neil. Speaking of which, when they approaches Neil and looks down at him laying beside beautiful Goddess, Jay and the others can barely recognize him. Neil's face is very haggard with deep dark circles under his eyes. He still looks deadly pale, which makes him look even worse. Not to mention his breathing appears very shallow, although it is a lot more regular then it was on the ride back to the school. Most of the purple blanket is covering the bandage wrap around his bare torso. His left hand rests comfortably just below his waist, while his other hand lay at his side.

Other than that, he had been cleaned up…he no longer bled so profusely anymore. Obviously either the Nymphs or Aphrodite had taken a very good care of him. The one and only thing that seems to bother his friends the most is how pale he looks. They all know it is because of the loss of blood, but it just doesn't seem right seeing Neil look like this.

"Do you want to say hi to him?" Aphrodite coos softly, cocking her head to one side at the six heroes.

"But we were told to let him rest." Jay whispers cautiously back, not wanting to disturb Neil.

"I know," The beautiful Goddess reassures the young brunette hero with a smile. "But when he heard you were going to come in for a visit Neil wanted me to wake him up so he could tell you something."

"What…?" Atlanta questions, one eyebrow rising curiously.

"Don't know. He'll have to tell you himself." Aphrodite then leans forward close enough that her lips are almost touching Neil's ear.

"Neil…Neil…" She whispers sweetly.

With a soft groan, Neil opens his eyes slowly. He blinks heavily for a moment and glances at his mentor rather quizzically. She smiles lovingly at his beautiful, but yet exhausted face.

"Your friends are here," The long blond haired Goddess says in a lilting voice

Neil turns his head slowly on the pillow to look at Jay and the rest of the teammates. He manages enough strength to force a faint but familiar grin on his face.

"Hey, guys," he says in a hoarse voice.

"Hey buddy," Grinning widely with relief, Herry leans toward him. "Glad to see you are doing ok now!"

"Yeah, you gave us all quite a scare there!" Archie exclaims, also smiling happily.

Theresa, Atlanta, Jay, and Odie all nod in agreement, each wearing a big smile as well.

Neil manages to smile wider at his friends. How he would have hated to let them down by doing something as stupid like dying on them! That is when he remembers something that Jay had said to him on the ride back to the school. Now Neil knows what he had wanted to say to him. The blond teen glances over at Jay, and brings his left hand up high enough to beckon his leader to come closer to him.

Mystified, Jay crouches down and moves his head so his ear is close to Neil's face. "What is it, Neil?" The young leader asks softly.

"I didn't give up…" Neil says in a barely audible voice. Jay blinks for a moment, and then lets out a little chuckle.

"No… No you didn't." The teen leader smirks, but the lump is forming in his throat and he nearly chokes on his words as he speaks to his injured friend. "You get some rest now, ok?" He pats his hand gently and affectionately on Neil's shoulder. With a faint smile, Neil barely nods his head before slowly closes his eyes and falling back into a deep, well deserved sleep. The worse day in history is finally over for him.

"Speaking of rest, I believe you kids need some for yourselves." Aphrodite announces calmly.

As if on cue, Herry lets out a big, noisy yawn that proves contagious for most of his teammates.

"You're right Aphrodite," Jay politely acknowledges the Goddess' concern. "With your permission, may we come back in the morning to check up on Neil?"

"Of course, dear boy," Aphrodite concurs, "You all are more then welcome to come and visit at anytime." So saying, she turns her attention back to stroking Neil's beautiful bleach blond hair.

"Ok then, goodnight." Jay says with a smile and starts down the stairs towards the door.

"Goodnight darlings." Aphrodite coos, waving her hand at them.

With a chorus of "Good night," to the Goddess and the two Nymphs, the rest of the teammates follow Jay out of Aphrodite's room.


	5. Stepping on Eggshells

_**A/N: Hey, I'm back…Sorry for the delay. I have been busy with other projects. Keep your eyes open for updates to my 'Vengeance: A Dish Served Cold' fanfic coming soon. This story will be updated more as well in the next couple of weeks. I always love to hear from you in what you think of the story so far…enjoy.**_

**Chapter 5: Stepping on Eggshells**

Jay and his team are now sound asleep in the cots the Gods had just set up for them. It certainly has been a long, emotionally draining night for them…and as a result they were more exhausted, mentally and physically, rather than simply tired. The fact they had nearly lost a teammate is quite a scary experience neither of them wishes to go through again. Of all the people, especially in their own team, how could it have been Neil who nearly ended up taking the trip to the Elysian Fields? It is very fortunate he survives, thanks to his sheer luck as well as his teammates' quick thinking and speed. Otherwise he would be gone forever!

Several hours ago, after the six young heroes had left Aphrodite's room, it gradually dawned on them that this traumatic incident may just have changed their lives. They aren't sure yet how this might change Neil, though. Nevertheless, Jay and the others are just glad he is still alive. One thing is for certain; from now on they won't look at Neil as an annoying, useless person anymore, but a valuable friend who is very much a part of the team. While they are trudging down the hallway, absorbed in their own thoughts, a satyr steps out and silently guides them back to the gym where the laid-out cots are waiting for them. That's when the heroes collapse into them, and allow themselves to slip into the dreamless slumber.

They had been sleeping for four hours now, and the dawn is slowly approaching. As the sunlight filters into the gym Jay is the first to open his eyes. At first he blinks a few times, wondering whether what had happened last night was just a horrible dream. It certainly feels that way. As he lifts his head off the pillow to take a look around his surroundings, he realizes it isn't a dream after all. If anything, what happened to Neil is more like a real life nightmare! Just then, he is seized with a sudden, enormous headache. He groans and lowers his head gingerly back into the pillow, figuring it is probably caused by the stress and his emotional outburst during the entire time of bringing Neil back to the school.

He put his hand to his forehead and massages it, hoping the pain will subside. Eventually, he decides to get up and walk out of the gym. Absently, he walks towards Aphrodite's room. Just as he is about to reach up and knock on the door, Chiron opens it, apparently about to walk out. The aged centaur stops in mid-step and looks at Jay in surprise; he was not expecting to see one of the teenagers up so soon.

"What are you doing up so early, dear boy? You should be resting." Chiron speaks kindly.

"I-I couldn't sleep." Jay stutters, unsure of what to say. "I just came by to see how Neil is doing."

The young hero looks down and realizes that Chiron is holding a syringe. The young leader worried a bit on what was in that syringe, and if Chiron had used it on Neil.

Chiron notices Jay's expression and replies gently, "Neil is resting. I just gave him something for pain and nausea. He will be sleeping for at least four hours." It doesn't take much for the half-horse, half-man god to see how exhausted the young man still looks. "I advise that you should go back to the gym to rest some more with the others." Chiron instructed, making a shooing movement with his free hand.

Jay shakes his head. "No, I'm not tired." He lies. Slowly he lifts his face to peer at the white bearded centaur with pleading eyes. "Perhaps I can just sit with him…please?"

Chiron gives a heavy sigh and replies again, "I don't see why not, but you need to ask Miss Aphrodite first."

"Of course," Jay nods in agreement. As the young man enters the room he is greeted by the Goddess of Love herself. By the expression on her face she has overheard the young hero talking to Chiron.

During the first few moments neither of them spoke a word. Finally Aphrodite nods with a small smile. She lifts her hand up to point at her shell bed where Neil is resting comfortably.

"Go on up and sit with your friend," She adds with a quiet warning, "Just don't disturb him; he hasn't been feeling well this morning."

"Thanks," Jay replies with a sigh of relief. He was hoping she would say that, although he is concerned at the part about Neil not feeling too well.

Tentatively the young leader climbs up the stairs towards the shell bed. As he makes it to the top step, Jay peers down into the bed to see how Neil looks. The blond teen still has a pale complexion from last night; however, his breathing is a lot steadier now than it was when he was carried into Aphrodite's room hours ago. Jay instantly notices that Aphrodite, or one of the other gods, had brought Neil's green monogrammed pajamas for him to wear. Seeing Neil clothed in those does indeed make him appear more comfortable.

It is hard to believe that just hours ago Neil was fighting for his life while Jay and Odie tried everything they could to help stop the bleeding. Just when everything seemed hopeless they arrived at the school and were able to place Neil in the care of the Gods. Thankfully Neil lived; they had made it just in time, apparently.

Carefully, Jay sits down on the shell-shaped bed beside Neil, being careful not to disturb his blond friend because of the warning Chiron and Aphrodite both had given him. As Jay looks at Neil with concern, the pain of guilt begins to bubble up from the pit of his stomach once more. How could Jay let this happen? Even Neil doesn't deserve this!

"I'm sorry you got hurt." He mutters in a regretful sigh.

"You shouldn't let guilt run your life, Jay. It causes worry lines, which makes one so young very unattractive." Aphrodite's soft, bubbly voice warbled from behind.

Jay turns around. The beautiful Goddess is gracefully waltzing up the stairs towards him, her long, blond hair almost floating behind her.

"But it was my fault," Jay begins to argue, "If I was more aware of my surroundings…"

Aphrodite holds up her hand, cutting him off in mid-sentence. "I know," she nods somberly, "But I can't help having this feeling that something extraordinary happened that may have affected Neil's performance when you all encountered Cronus."

"What do you mean…?" Jay asks, sitting up with great interest of what the Goddess of Love is saying.

"Well, most of Neil's luck is based on his confidence. If something had happened to him that my have bruised his ego in some way, that may have played a big part on why he got hurt."

"Really…? What do you think may have caused that?" The young leader wondered.

"Well, I'm not too sure, but he did tell me earlier before feeling really sick that he was having a bad day yesterday." The lovely goddess whispered soothingly.

"What did he say," Jay asked, hoping it might shed some light.

"Hmm," Aphrodite paused for a moment as she tries to remember Neil's exact words. "I am not too clear on what he said exactly, but something about the unthinkable happening with his modeling agent."

Jay pondered what she is saying for a moment. A low moan causes both the young hero and the Goddess of love to look down at Neil.

"Perhaps the guys and I should go over to the modeling agency later this week and talk to the photographer. If Neil is scheduled for a shoot anytime this week, the photographer should know that he won't be able to make it." Jay announced. Aphrodite simply just nodded in agreement, while keeping a steady, nurturing watch over her beloved student.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

**MID MORNING…**

As Neil slowly approaches conciseness his eyes are the first to stir. It takes a few tries before they are able to blink open. At first his vision is blurry, as he tries to remember what happened to him. The sight of a shell shape, almost reflective, with a pattern on it comes in clear view. He remembers now. He's in Aphrodite's room. Thankfully, the medication Chiron gave him is still in an effect or he may be waking up in extreme pain around his stomach still. Neil moves his eyes to glance up at the ceiling. As he studies the marble tiles placed beautifully in a pattern of a swan, he wonders how his life will become of this experience. Something moving beside him catches his attention. Once again he moves his eyes to his left and sees a familiar figure with lavender hair and wearing a blue hoodie.

Archie is sitting at the edge of the shell-shaped bed and hunched over a book. He appears so fixated on what he is reading to notice Neil moving slightly to look up at him. Half a moment later, Archie finally turns his head slightly to glance at his wounded blond friend. Seeing Neil looking up at him nearly took the young warrior off guard. He'd almost expected the former model to still be asleep.

"Oh, you're awake." Archie says in a tone that sounded more of relief then shock.

"Yeah…" Neil attempts to speak in a gruff, hoarse voice. He also still feels very groggy thanks the medication Chiron gave him.

"Um, h-how are you feeling?" The young warrior asked, not knowing what else to say. He reaches up to scratch the back of his head.

"Tired," Neil answers plainly with his voice still sounding rough. He as he glances around the room and the first thing he notices is that he and Archie are the only ones here. "Where is everyone?"

"Oh, um, Jay and Odie had to go see Hera and Hermes. Herry went to check up on his truck. Atlanta was hungry, so she went to the cafeteria. And Theresa went to see Persephone…saying along the lines of toning her skills as a clairvoyant…or something like that…" Archie trailed off.

Neil paused for a moment with a look of slight disappointment on his face. "Oh," He managed to utter. He had hoped that Aphrodite, at least, would be still sitting here as well as all of his friends. _Speaking of which_, he wondered, "Where's Aphrodite…?"

"Ah, Aphrodite stepped out for just a moment. She said she'll be right back, though."

Not knowing what to say to that, Neil just lets out a grunt. He looks up at his friend. Archie appears to be searching his mind for something to say next. Not that Neil could blame him much. Neither of them has actually sat down to talk about anything, except maybe the odd insult at one other's expense. He can feel the awkward tension between them. Neil knows he has to do something, or both of them might go stir crazy with heavy silence. It is at this moment Neil really takes notice of the book in Archie's hand.

"Whatcha reading…?" He asks, in a half curious manner, and half to just having something to talk about between them.

"Huh…?" The question took Archie slightly off guard. "O-oh, just some old poetry…it's nothing, really." He says with a hint of shyness in his tone as he places the book behind his back.

Neil makes a half smile in seeing the way Archie shies away from the question. It's really not the first time Neil has noticed his young tough friend as a somewhat sentimental closet poet. He even sometimes expresses his shyness around Atlanta when it comes to the subject of 'love'. Neil ponders if the two of them would actually, in some miraculous way, make it as a real couple. Just thinking about that suddenly caused him to realize something. He starts to frown as an ach in his heart causes him to feel lonely inside. The part of himself that he loved; the one that was filled with confidences and charisma no longer seems to be there. It feels like someone close to him had died. There would be no way for him to recover from this at all.

Again there is an awkward silence as both boys once again are trying to think of something to say to each other. Archie glances down at Neil and bits his lower lip in guilt. He had never seen his blond friend so sad before. There has to be something he can say to him…anything.

Finally, a thought comes to him.

"Say Neil, you want anything? Something to eat…?" He asks desperately.

Neil, now a little distracted from his own thoughts, stirs uncomfortably as the queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach resurfaces. This is the same feeling he woke up to very early in the morning. It felt so bad that Aphrodite had to get Chiron to give him something that helped to settle it down. Something told him if he were to eat something that it probably wouldn't want to stay down. He starts to shake his head as he replies, "no."

"Well, how about something to drink? Juice…? Tea…? Water…?"

The blond teen refuses the juice and tea, but pauses for a moment when Archie suggested the last one. '_Perhaps the water can help wash down this metallic taste in my mouth?'_ He though. Neil looks up at his friend with the purple mullet, "Maybe water." He says, his voice still sounding a little hoarse.

"Great," Archie chirped. "I'll be right back with some water then."

Neil watches Archie leave the room. The moment the door closes tears swell up in the former model's eyes. Normally, having his friends do things like getting him a glass of water would appease him. Sadly, in this case, it makes him feel more helpless, especially for the team. _What if Cronus attacks?_ He thought. What use is he practically paralyzed in this shell bed. He feels like such a loser for getting hurt like this. Neil finds the urge to try and sit up at least, not only to prove to his friends, but to him as well, that he is not a pathetic useless moron.

Aphrodite finally returns to the room in time to catch Neil struggling as he forces his upper body up from a comfortable lying position. The goddess of love instantly reacts frantically.

"Neil, you are not supposed to be moving, darling. Chiron specifically told you that you need to rest."

"I just want to sit up," Neil cries out in frustration as his mentor forces him back down against the cushions.

Aphrodite studies her young student's pleading eyes. His breathing appears heavier like he has just run a marathon. The goddess of love thinks for a moment. She has come to the conclusion that probably sitting up is alright.

"Ok," Aphrodite says with a nod of her head. She reaches over to grab an extra red satin cushion before helping Neil lean forward to place the pillow behind him.

"I can do it…" Neil whined, taking back his arm and pushing himself up from a lying position. He falls against the raised cushions while he catches his breath. Neil closes his eyes tired eyes for a moment as he takes in deep breaths, but to be careful not to stretch the stitches on his stomach.

Aphrodite smiles lovingly at her beloved student. She reaches up to stroke his beautiful golden locks. Her touch is comforting. It instantly relaxes Neil. Aphrodite smiles wider seeing her young hero being so independent in wanting to sit up on his own. She finds it impressive; especially after nearly dying do the lack of blood.

"Better…?" She coos at him.

Neil nods his head 'yes'. He leans his head in towards Aphrodite's hand. Her touch is so warm against his cold cheek.

It didn't take long for Aphrodite to realize something is missing from this room. She could have sworn she had left Neil with one of his friends. The beautiful Goddess wondered where he had gone too.

"Where is Archie?"

"He's gone to get me some water." Neil answers softly.

"Oh, that's nice of him." Aphrodite chimes as she continues to stroke his hair.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Archie steps out of the kitchen with a glass of cool water with a straw and a few ice cubes floating in it. He pulls out his PMR and with a push of a button he is able to reach the other five members of the team.

"Hey guys, guess who finally woke up." He smirks at the little blue wakkie-talkie.

"_Really…? That's great!"_ Jay's excited tone echoes through the little speaker.

"Yeah, I'm just bringing him some water." Archie says with a bit of a sigh at the end.

"_Is there something wrong, Archie?"_ Theresa asks, sensing a little distress in his voice.

"Well…" The young warrior paused for a moment. The right words have to come out. He takes a deep breath before continuing. "It's just that he looked kind of depressed."

There is a pause before someone responds on the PMR.

"_I guess that is understandable, considering what he's been through."_ Odie's voiced a little wisdom into the conversation.

"_Try to cheer him up somehow. We will be there soon, ok."_ Jay adds before everyone turns off their PMR's.

Archie again lets out a sigh before turning off his PMR. He opens the door to Aphrodite's room and is surprised to see his blond friend sitting up at talking to his mentor as she strokes his hair.

"Gee, I thought you didn't like anyone touching your hair…?" The lavender mullet hair warrior joked. Seeing Neil frown as he pushes Aphrodite's hand away from his face made Archie feel bad for even opening his mouth.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean anything by that." He apologizes in a desperate manner.

"It's ok," Neil shrugs. Although, by the look on his face suggests that it isn't ok. He appears very hurt by Archie's harmless comment. Aphrodite wrinkles her brow in concern. It's not like Neil to be affected so easily.

Archie bits down on his lower lip and looks down at his feet. _'Wait a go, dummy,'_ he cursed himself, _'instead of cheering him up, you made him feel worse.'_ Archie thinks of what he can say to smooth out this situation as he climbs the steps towards the shell shaped bed. Looking down at the glass in his hand, he remembers why he had left Aphrodite's room in the first place.

"I brought you water," he says handing Neil the glass as if it is a peace offering.

"Thanks," Neil softly says, accepting the glass and bringing it up to his face.

"Remember to take slow sips, Neil." Aphrodite warns.

"Ok," he nods before sipping slowly on the straw.

"Look Neil, I am really sorry for what I said…" Archie again pleaded.

Neil shook his head before he could finish.

"Don't worry about it."

The door opens. Aphrodite, Archie, and Neil look over to see Jay and the others entering into the room. Instantly the team smile at the sight of their injured friend looking slightly better then he did last night. However, Neil still does look very pale compared to his usual well tanned complexion.

"Wow, he's even sitting up. I'm impressed." Atlanta whispers to Theresa. The strawberry blond teen nods her head in agreement.

Jay is the first to reach the top of the stairs and sits down beside Neil.

"Hey, Neil, how are you feeling?"

The wounded teen takes one last sip through the straw before pulling the glass of water away from his face. He hands the glass to his mentor and she puts it on her little table stand beside the shell bed.

"I've been better." Neil responds honestly. His voice sounding not as hoarse as it did when he first woke up. The water has helped a bit. He had thought by seeing all of his friends here it would make him feel happy, but instead it just makes him feel guilty.

"I'm sorry," he says, nearly chocking on his words.

The others quickly gave each other a worried glance before turning to face Neil again.

"Neil, why are you sorry, man?" Odie asks, leaning forward slightly with his hands resting on his shoulder.

"Yeah, you didn't do anything wrong." Atlanta agrees.

"But I got hurt…I nearly broke the prophecy." Neil whined. His tears started to swell in his pure blue eyes once more. He quickly glances up at his six friends, but turns away feeling embarrassed for acting like a fool in their presence.

Again, Jay and the others look at each other. They can feel and understand Neil's pain, both physically and mentally.

"Neil, don't worry about right now, alright." Herry says in a gruff, but soft tone.

"Yeah, we are just glad you are ok." Theresa adds in a nurturing voice. She sits down beside Jay and places a reassuring hand on Neil's knee.

"Herry and Theresa are right, Neil. We _will_ catch Cronus and make him pay, I promise." Jay says, trying to sound convincing. He clasps down on his shoulder to show that he won't let what happen to him go unpunished.

With a sniffle, Neil replies, "sure…if you say so…"

Sensing Neil's distress, Aphrodite pulls him close to her and wraps her arms around him. Feeling very weak still, the blond teen has no choice but to accept the hold and leans his head comfortably on her shoulder.

The others can tell it might take some time before Neil could recover from this. Without a word spoken, each of them knows that it will take all of them to help him bring his confidence back. In the meantime, they will do what they can to cheer him up.

"Is there anything you want us to do for you?" Theresa finally speaks up.

Neil blinks heavily before looking at her.

"Actually, I'm kind of tired." He says with a deep breath. "I think I would like to lie down again."

"So…I take it you want us to leave then?" Archie asks.

Neil pauses for a moment before nodding his head and replying, "Yeah..."

Aphrodite takes this opportunity to assist Neil by taking one of the extra pillows out from behind him and helping him as he gently leans back into a lying position.

"Alright, we will go." Jay says, placing his hand onto Neil's. "But we will be back later. That is a promise."

Neil looks up at his leader. He can see the sincerity in his eyes. The former model forces a half crooked smile on his face, "Ok." He says softly

With a nod Jay gets up and leads the team down the steps and towards the door. They each pause to glance once more up at Neil. The young injured blond blinks his tired eyes before turning his head away from the others. From where they stand, Jay and the others aren't able to tell if he is already falling asleep, or if he is just hiding the hurt on his face. Atlanta and Odie both look up at Theresa in hopes she might be sensing something. The long strawberry blond haired teen shrugs her shoulders, stating that she doesn't sense anything. With a round of heavy sighs, the young heroes leave the room.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

**TWO DAYS LATER…**

The six young heroes walked down the street, heading for Neil's modeling agency. As they an intersection, and as they did Theresa sensed a moment of rush. It felt as if someone was nearly hit by a car. This puzzled the strawberry blond teen. She usually senses things in a present and near future time, but this sensation she is sensing is set in a past-tense. The others are walking up ahead and do not see her experiencing this vision.

Theresa continues to catch up with the team when she passes the coffee shop. Again another vision hits. Someone had been carrying a freshly cup-to-go of hot coffee and a familiar image of a blond teen running into him. He soon began wearing the coffee stains all down his shirt.

"Well, that explains the coffee stains." She mutters.

"Did you say something, Theresa?" Odie asked being the closest to her. He turned to face her. The others stop as well to face their clairvoyant member of the team.

"Well," she paused for a moment in order to think of the right words to explain this strange phenomenon of seeing past-tense. "I'm not sure, but I think I can see images of some things Neil went through the morning before we met him at the park."

"Really…? What kind of things do you see Theresa?" Jay asked, stepping up to her with great interest in what she is saying.

Theresa turned away from her teammates and stared at the intersection in which they had just crossed. With a deep breath she raised her hand and pointed to the street.

"As we crossed that street, I sensed a car nearly hitting someone. I think it might have been Neil."

"Wow," Atlanta gasped.

"And just now, right in front of this coffee shop, I sensed someone with a hot beverage in their hand and accidentally spilling it onto Neil." Theresa continued.

"Oh," Herry winced, "maybe Neil really did have a bad day."

"Yeah, and the incident at the old factory was the icing on the cake, I'm sure." Odie added, also feeling a sense of regret for their blond team member.

"Come on guys the modeling studio is just a few blocks away. Let's hurry before Neil's boss breaks for lunch." Jay ordered.

The others follow suit as they continue their journey towards a tall brick building down the street.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

One by one, the six teen heroes walk through the door of the agency building. They are instantly greeted by the sectary at the information desk in the front lobby.

"May I help you?" She offers with a slight snobbish attitude.

"Uh, yeah," Jay responds as he steps up the desk. "We are here to see Frankie Dewitt. He's a photographer from the modeling agency our friend is in."

"I know who he is," the sectary replies, rolling her eyes skyward. "Do you have an appointment?"

"Well, no, but…" Jay was about to explain before being cut off.

"Then I'm afraid you cannot see him." The snobby blond from behind the desk snaps. She instantly lifts her had up to check her perfectly painted red nails.

Atlanta instantly lets out a growl. She is using up all her self-control to refrain from attacking the bimbo that just dissed her and her friends.

Theresa steps up to the desk beside Jay.

"Please, it's very important we see him." She asks desperately.

"I'm sorry, but if you do not have an appointment you may not go up to see him. He's in the middle of a very important shoot." The sectary instantly says as she picks up a nail file to perfect one of her nails that seemed out of place.

"I got your _important shoot_ right here…" Atlanta growls hotly under her breath.

Archie instantly takes notice that Atlanta is about to lose it, so he clasps his hands tightly down on her shoulders in order to hold her back just in case.

"Uh, thank you ma'am, sorry for taking up your time." He says politely while he struggles to pull his fiery red-haired friend back.

"Now what are we going to do?" Herry asks as soon as they are out of earshot from the sectary.

"I don't know," Jay replies, almost in defeat. "Any suggestions…?"

"Well, we could defiantly use some of Neil's luck right about now." Odie noted out to everyone.

"That's for sure," Archie nods in agreement.

"Maybe we can sneak by somehow?" Jay throws in as a suggestion.

Almost instantly, Theresa receives a vision.

"Wait, Jay, maybe we don't have to go up to see Neil's photographer." She chirps.

"Why's that?" The team's leader inquired.

"Because he is just coming out of that elevator right now," Theresa proudly states as the sliding door opens and the redheaded man in the pink fluffy shirt steps out.

"Great let's go." Jay cheers as he leads the others to run up the photographer. "Ah, Mr. Dewitt…? Can we talk to you, please…?" He hollers to him.

Frankie stops and lets out an exasperated sigh.

"If you don't have an appointment then you may not talk to me. My time is quite valuable, you know." He says as he continues to walk towards the main doors outside.

"But It's important. It's about one of your models." Jay calls out to him before he is too far to hear them.

Frankie stops with mild interest to what these teens have to say.

"Really…? Which one…?" He asks.

"Neil," Odie bluntly replies.

The photographer scoffs and rolls his eyes.

"Please, don't waist my time with that dead-beat." Frankie says, sticking his nose up in the air and waving his hand at the teens.

"Excuse me…?" Theresa asked puzzlingly.

Frankie paused for a moment, looking at the teens in a suspicious manner. "Wait…? Did he put you six up to this? I told him if he wasn't going to take this business seriously then I didn't want him here. It was one of the toughest decisions I had to make, but I'm afraid I had to let Neil go. I mean, come on, _family emergencies_…? That is not an excuse to miss so many shoots, or being late for them."

"Are you trying to tell us that you fired Neil?" Jay asked, feeling sick to his stomach with what he is hearing. The _family emergencies_ must mean those times they had gone up against Cronus.

"Hey, he shows up late, again, on Saturday what else am I supposed to do? I've given him plenty of warnings. Oh well, you know what they say… _That is how the cookie crumbles_, I suppose. Show yourselves out, ok." Frankie shrugs. He instantly walks away from the young six heroes and walks through the door leaving Jay and the others with their mouths hanging open.

"Unbelievable," Archie finally utters.

"Yah, no wonder Neil seemed so depressed and moody when we picked him up at the park." Herry says after finding his voice.

With a heavy sigh, Jay adds, "Come guys we should get back to the school."

As soon as they walk out of the building, Archie looks up.

"Hey guys look," He says, pointing up at something on the side of a tall building.

The others look up to where Archie is addressing and their mouths drop. They watch, stunned at what they see. The big billboard poster that Neil's picture as been on for the past year and a half is now being taken down. In its replacement, another male model with brunette hair with red highlights posing for a jeans ad.

"That's totally unfair!" Herry cries out in disgust.

"Yeah, I was just getting use to seeing Neil's face up there. Now they got some other doofus to pose for those stupid ads." Atlanta growls in annoyance.

"How are we going to explain this to Neil?" Odie wonders.

"Maybe he won't notice?" Herry suggests, shrugging his shoulders.

"Guys this is no time for jokes." Jay snaps.

"Who's joking…?" Archie inquires.

"Let's just go…" Jay sighs once more, leading them back to the school.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The Goddess of love has just accepted a plate with a half eaten muffin on it from Neil. He leans up against the raised pillows as he finishes chewing the contents in his mouth. Aphrodite places the plate on the small table beside the bed and reaches to touch Neil's hand. Hearing knocking on the door instantly causes her to stand up with glee.

"We have visitors," she claps her hands excitedly before getting up from her shell bed and rushing to the door.

Neil, however, frowns. He is not sure if he wants visitors at this moment. The former model is confused why he feels this way. When his friends are not around he worries about where they've gone. As soon as they are here he is depressed. He slowly slides down from a sitting position to a more lying down angle. Somehow he just doesn't have the strength to sit up anymore.

"Come in, come in…! We are so excited that you are here." Aphrodite cheers. She quickly glances up and her prodigy with a worried look. He doesn't seem too enthusiastic of the arrival of his friends. As the door opens, she instantly smiles warmly towards her visitors.

"Hi, Miss Aphrodite…how's Neil doing today?" Herry asks politely.

"Besides feeling a little moody, he's fine." She assures the brawn teen. "Neil, Neil darling…Wakie, wakie…your friends are here." The beautiful Goddess calls out the injured teen.

Neil opens his eyes to look over to where Aphrodite and his friends are standing.

"Hey," he says while managing a forced smile on his face.

Odie is the first to walk up the steps to see Neil. "Hey man, glad to see you're awake." He grins. He looks down at the small table beside the shell bed and smiles when he sees a half eaten muffin on the plate. "And your eating too, that's great!"

Neil turns his head to look up at the half eaten muffin, then back at his dark skinned genius friend. "Yeah, I'm trying too." He says in a mild, but still very tired, tone.

Odie is concerned for his blond friend. His usual vibrant attitude is now replaced with a depressed expression on his face. He looks over to the others, whom all have just joined him beside the shell bed. Odie turns back to his blond friend and leaned forward towards him.

"Are you alright, Neil?"

Neil slowly responds with a nod of his head. "Yeah…just tired." He is in no particular mood to discuss his personal feelings right now with any of his friends. Instead, he wants to distract them on a different topic. "What did you guys do today?"

"Oh, um, we walked and, ah…did…stuff…" Atlanta nervously tries to explain. Obviously she is trying to dance around the subject of seeing his former boss at the modeling agency. "What did you do?"

With a frown, Neil shrugs before answering, "I slept, woke up, ate half a muffin…now I'm lying here talking to you…what else am I suppose to be doing?"

"Hey, well at least you are starting to eat now. That is a positive step in getting healthy and strong quicker, right?" Theresa says to him in a cheerful tone.

"I guess…" Neil sighs. Once again, he feels he should change the subject again. "Where did you guys go…?"

"What…?" Herry asks, scratching his head in confusion.

"Your walk… Where did you go?" Neil interjects.

"Oh, uh, across town…" Archie stutters.

"What did you do there?" The blond teen can sense his friends are trying to avoid this topic for some reason, but his curiosity is growing stronger.

"Um, well, this…that…and other things…" Atlanta attempts to explain, but fails.

With a defeating sigh, Jay sits down beside Neil and looks right at him. "Look Neil, we have a confession. We went to your modeling agency." He admits.

Neil's eyes instantly widened. He didn't like where this topic was heading.

"…And you couldn't get in…?" He asks hopefully.

"Actually, we ran into your photographer downstairs." Theresa winced slightly. "He, um, told us about letting you go, Neil."

Unable to even look up at his friends, Neil turns away. He can feel the sting of tears threatening to escape from his eyes. _'How can they do this to me…they're supposed to be my friends!'_ He wonders. Eventually, he would have told them, but not like this.

"Guys, I don't want to talk about this right now." Neil tells them just above a whisper. He carefully moves his body to his side, showing his back to his friends.

"Come on, man, don't be like this. We are on your side here." Odie pleads.

"Please just _leave_!" Neil says forcefully with a hint of emotional distress.

Jay and the others glance at each other with puzzlement. They felt as if they had unwittingly just opened up a can of worms. Unsure of what to do next, they turn to face Aphrodite. She still wears a shocked expression on her face with the news that Neil had been fired from his modeling career. In someway, it makes sense now on why her precious student had been a little moody lately. Realizing that the young six heroes are looking at her for answers on what to do about Neil's bizarre reaction, she decides it would be best to follow his request.

"As much as I love your visits, children, I think you should leave and let Neil rest now." She says as she addresses the door. With a regretful sigh, the six young heroes step down away from the shell bed and heads in the direction the Goddess of Love is pointing.

Neil waits to hear the door out of Aphrodite's room close shut, indicating that his friends left, before letting out a low sob. Aphrodite hears her young protégé crying and heads up to the bed so she could sit with him. Even the soft comforting strokes of his mentor's touch don't seem to help calm him. Without any words being exchanged between them, they just sit until Neil slowly cries himself to sleep.


	6. Depression

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry for the delay. It's just that I've been so busy lately. Hope you enjoy these updates. R&R thank you.**

**Chapter 6: Depression**

**THE NEXT MORNING **

After lifting the used bandaged off of Neil's stitched up stomach, Chiron picks up a sanitized Q-tip from the tray beside him. Gently, the half horse half God strokes the wound clean with the soft cotton, alcohol-layered tip. Chiron glances over to check on Neil. He notices the former model lying quietly with his face turned away. His complexion is still very pale. Regardless of the fact he is just waking up from the medicated sleep, Neil is obviously showing signs of depression. Chiron sighed as he wondered what he could do for this troubled young hero.

"You are quite lucky Neil," he chimes, trying to sound as positive as he can. He disposes the used Q-tip in a small trash bag taped on the side of the tray. "There are no signs of infection. You may even end up with only a minor scar from this."

The only response he hears is a slight grunt to indicate that Neil heard what Chiron told him. It is a clear sign that the blond teen is still not too happy with how life has caused him to suffer like this. The aged centaur frowns. This depression could affect Neil's recovery.

"Alright, I'm going to apply the clean dressing now." Chiron reaches over to the tray once more to pick up clean gauss. He carefully drapes it over the wound before grabbing the body tape. After sticking the last strip of tape down to secure the fresh clean gauss, Chiron places his hand on Neil's shoulder.

"There you go, Lad, all done."

Neil blinks heavily as he looks up at Chiron. Slowly, the blond teen bringing his attention down his chest and begins buttoning up his pajama top.

"Are you hungry yet, Neil?" The centaur calmly asks.

The blond teen slowly shook his head. He tries to say 'no' but ends up coming out more as another moan.

Chiron nods his head figuring that would be the answer. Perhaps later when Neil has a chance to wake up that he could try and eat something. Again with a heavy sigh, Chiron picks up his medical equipment.

"I'm going to go now, but I'll be back later to check up on you. Don't hesitate to ask Miss Aphrodite if you need anything, alright?" He tells the young teen.

Neil nods his head and murmurs an 'uh-ha' to the God.

A knocking on the door causes Chiron to glance away briefly then back to Neil. "It sounds like you have visitors. Are you up for it, or would you prefer I tell them come by later."

Neil thinks about it for a bit before blinking up at Chiron.

"I guess its ok…"

Chiron nods. He turns and begins stepping down away from the shell shaped bed. Aphrodite glances up from filing her nails to smile and bows her head forward to the centaur as he walks by her. Chiron, in turn, nods his head to the Goddess of Love and Beauty. On his way out the God opens the door to greet the visitors. All six young heroes wait eagerly to enter and see their friend.

"Good morning children. Go on in, but don't stay too long Neil is not feeling too well this morning."

"We understand, thanks Chiron, thanks." Jay answers. The others follow their leader into Aphrodite's room as the aged centaur leaves with the medical supplies lay evenly on a silver tray.

"Er, hi Miss Aphrodite." Archie blushed. Even though he and the other guys on the team are used the Goddess of Love it still sometimes over whelming being in her presents. Atlanta catches the look on Archie's face and rolls her eyes with an exasperating groan.

Aphrodite stands up from her seat and smiles down at her pupil's visitors. "Good morning, young heroes. What brings you here this early in the morning?"

"We thought that we'd check up on Neil before going to class." Theresa replies.

"Yeah, he seemed pretty upset that we discovered what happened with his modeling career in all." Herry added.

The Goddess of Love lowers with a nod. She graciously lifts her had up to gesture towards her shell bed before glancing back at the teens.

"Go on up then."

"Thanks Miss Aphrodite." Odie chimes. He and the others start marching up the steps to greet their injured friend.

"Morning Neil," Jay says with a slight wave of his hand.

With a slight shiver, Neil pulled up the covers up to his shoulders before noticing his friends standing over beside the bed.

"Hey…" he groaned tiredly.

Jay knitted his brow forward when he saw Neil shiver.

"Are you cold Neil?"

"A little…" Neil lifts his heavy eyelids up to see his leader. Gradually the rest of his teammates climbed the top of the stairs and stands behind Jay. "What are you guys doing here this early?" The former model asks in a weak tone.

"We figured we come by for a brief visit now, since you were asleep most of yesterday. But don't worry we will come by after school too." Jay tries to assure him by placing a warm hand on his covered shivering shoulder.

"Yeah ok…" Neil sighs. He blinks heavily before adjusting himself in a more comfortable position that doesn't make his stomach feel queasy. As much as he admires his friend's loyalty he wishes that they would just leave now.

Theresa leans over, realizing Neil's discomfort, and whispers into Jay's ear. "We should get going Jay. Neil looks like he needs to rest now."

Jay nods in agreement before turning back to Neil.

"Look Neil. We need to go to class, but I promise we will be back later, alright…?" The team leader says calmly.

Being drowsy still from the medication, Neil simply nods his head and murmurs once more 'uh-ha' without even opening his eyes to Jay and the others.

Reluctantly, the six teen heroes step away from the shell bed. One step at a time they begin walking down towards the door. Odie is the last one to leave Neil's side. He can tell Neil is feeling depressed, as well as in a great deal of pain. The brilliant member of the team wonders if there has to be something to help cheer him up. Odie looks back at his blond sleepy friend and forms an idea. He quickly catches up to the others before they are too far up ahead.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

**Hours Later…**

Neil is now sitting up as he takes slow bits from a piece of toast. He looks up to see Aphrodite. Her soft lovingly expression creates a warm feeling for Neil. He tries to smile at her, but finds it difficult to hold it for the beautiful Goddess. A wave of guilt passes over him. How can he maintain his status as the most handsome guy in school if he cannot impress the Goddess of Love?

Aphrodite tries to show her affections by stroking the side of his head. "It will be ok, Neil. You'll get better soon then you can be your old self once more."

"How can I when I'm no longer a famous model?" Neil begins. He sees that she is about to say something, but cuts her off as if he had been reading her mind. "And if I do find another agent as soon as they see this scar on my stomach I will just be cast aside like a second rate armature."

"Oh Neil…" Aphrodite tries to sympathize, but no words seem to come out.

Feeling disappointed with Aphrodite's lack of encouraging words, he lets out a heavy sigh. Neil reaches over to the table beside the bed picks up a cup with tea in it. He sips slowly to help wash down the remaining toast in his mouth.

A knocking at the door causes Aphrodite to stand up with a hint of excitement.

"Ooh, that must be your friends! Don't get up, I'll get it."

"Great…" Neil sarcastically mutters before sipping on more tea.

Aphrodite stops to look up at her pupil. Her heart breaks seeing him so depressed. The only hope now is if his friends can do something to cheer him up, or at least take his mind off from the low feeling he's going through. With a heavy sigh she continues to walk towards the door. She opens it and greets Jay, Theresa, Herry, Archie, and Atlanta. In the back of her mind she questions the whereabouts of the sixth teen, but she is just glad to see at least five of Neil's friends here.

"Oh, do come in. Maybe you can do something to cheer up Neil…he's been feeling a little down since waking up today." The beautiful Goddess tells them.

"We will certainly try, Miss Aphrodite." Theresa says trying to sound confident.

Atlanta walks up the stairs with her teammates by her side. "Hi Neil, how are you doing today?" She chirps as soon as she reaches the top of the stairs.

"I'm alright I guess." Neil breathes deeply before opening his eyes up to see his friends standing around him. He is able to count five out of six of his friends. He knitted his brow forward before asking, "Where's Odie?"

"He said he had to get something from the Dorm. I'm sure he'll be joining us soon." Jay assures the injured teen.

"I see," Neil replies in a disappointment tone. He takes another slow sip while staring off into space.

Atlanta flinched slightly. "Gee Neil. You are not still mad about yesterday, are you?"

Neil looks up with tired eyes. He blinks a few times out of confusion then remembers what she meant by her comment. "No, I'm not mad…not at any of you."

Archie sat down on the edge of the shell shape bed and gives Neil a sincere look. "Why not tell us what's wrong then."

"Yeah Neil we're here for ya." Herry nods in agreement.

Neil looks around at all his friends. They each are in fact giving their full attention to him. He is sure that this has not happened before. It is with some thought that usually his friends would sooner not bother with him then listen to him gab. With a reluctant yawn, Neil peers down at his cup of tea. There _is_ something bothering him, unfortunately, he has no way of explaining these unnatural feelings that he is going through. He figures he should say something to them though, so he takes in a deep breath before trying to explain.

"It's just…" he pauses briefly, still trying to put together the right words. Jay and the others lean in closer to hear their narcissist friend.

"It's just…" Neil repeated. Shaking his head, he continues. "It's just I don't like feeling this way."

Theresa glances over to Jay before turning her attention back to Neil. "Feeling what way, Neil?"

Neil looks up at his friends with a pout. Why haven't they been able to figure it out? Isn't it obvious? Neil is just not sure if he can just come out and say it. Finally Neil blurts out, "like a loser. I feel so helpless lying here. I-I-I just want to be able to get up and do stuff, but…I don't seem to have enough energy to do that."

"Hey Neil it's alright," Jay says as he places a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We understand."

"Yeah," Archie nods in agreement. "You took a serious blow. I mean, any of us would feel the same way if the roles were reversed."

"Archie's right," Atlanta tries to sound positive as she reaches over to pat Neil's hand gently. "But don't worry, we will all help you."

"Yeah, I'm sure you will be as good as new in no time." Theresa chirped in a cheerleader manner.

Herry simply nods his head and grins.

Neil can't help to feel a bit ashamed at this moment. He lowers his head and rests it in his hand. "I don't know," he mutters.

Someone knocking on the door draws everyone's attention. The nymph with the short pink hair gets up to let in the guest. Odie walks in with a brown envelope in his hand. He looks up at his friends and waves to them.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. Neil, I got something for you…"

Neil turns his head to his African-Canadian friend with a mild interest.

"What…?" He asks.

"Oh, just some pictures I found. They might help cheer you up." Odie replies as he climbs the stairs to hand the envelope over to Neil.

Neil opens it and pulls out several 8X10 photographs. At first Neil is confused, but soon recognizes the handsome blond in the pictures a crocked smile forms on his face. The others are relieved to see a slight cheerful appearance on their blond friend's face. As Neil flips through each picture he realizes that some are with him and his friends, while the rest are from his days as a model. One picture in particular strikes him to be very upsetting. It ended up being his most popular photo taken. He is shirtless with the button on his pants undone to expose part of his underwear. Seeing his bare stomach, so smooth and scar-free makes Neil sad knowing that he won't be able to be this good looking ever again. Slowly his smile fades. He looks up at Odie with a suspicious glare.

"Where did you get these?"

"From your room… I hope you don't mind." Odie shrugs.

"Actually yeah... These are old pictures. I really don't want to be reminded of my past right now." Neil pouted as he places the pictures facing down on his lap.

"I-I thought you would want to have a few encouraging photos to help regain your strength and confidence." Odie suggested.

"Well, I don't want them. Take them away from me!" The former model begins to push the pictures away up to Odie's chest.

"But these are great pictures. You should be proud of them." Odie points out as he tries to hand the pictures back to Neil.

Out of shear frustration and anger, Neil takes the photographs in both hands. With one quick motion he rips them all in half. Everyone is so taken back with what they had witness that words can't seem to explain the feeling of ach in their hearts. Never in a million years did they expect Neil to tear his own photographs.

"Look," Neil says forcefully, "stop trying to cheer me up! Stop feeling sorry for me, and stop expecting me to become better then who I was. Modeling was my life. Besides being a hero, modeling was all I knew. That is something I can't get back. I'm nothing now. You _hear_ me…? **Nothing…!**"

"But Neil…" Jay starts.

"Enough…! Get out!" Neil blurts out.

"What…?" Atlanta asks, taken aback with Neil's hostile attitude all of a sudden.

"You heard me… _**Leave!**_ Stop bothering me!"

"Neil, you don't mean that…" Theresa says emotionally. She is unable to believe what she is hearing.

"Yeah Neil, we're your friends. As Odie said, we are just trying to help." Herry added.

"Then as my friends, I ask you to go away." Neil pleads. Not giving his friends a chance to respond, Neil begins to lie down on his side with his back to them.

"Ah, geez…Neil…" Archie sighs, seeing that their blond friend is starting to act out again.

"Children," Aphrodite suddenly steps in. "Please, before he gets even more upset." She adds, addressing the door for them to leave.

"Fine," Atlanta groans. She turns towards the shell bed once more. "We're going now. Does that make you _happy_, Neil?"

Neil does not answer. He just lies there, sulking.

All six young heroes start stepping down the stairs confused and upset over this whole experience. Jay stops for a second before following the others towards the door. He turns to say something to Neil.

"Look, Neil whether you understand or not, we are your friends. No matter what we work as a team; a team that you are still apart of. We won't give up on you that easily. When you are ready to be a part of the team again just let us know." Jay says before marching down the stairs and towards to door.

Neil turns his head slightly to watch his friend leave the room from the corner of his eye. Instantly, as the door closes, the young blond breaks out in tears. Once again, he realizes that his selfishness is causing the team to fall apart. He will be surprised to see them visiting him anytime again soon. A sharp pain starts to cause serious discomfort in his stomach area. How he wish he could blame this agony on his friends, but he knows the truth. His own foolish behavior is making him suffer.

"Quick, go get Chiron!" Aphrodite says, turning towards the nymph with long blue hair. She immediately rushes up the stairs to comfort her pupil as best as she can until the centaur God arrives.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

**Meanwhile, Outside the School…**

"I can't believe he just spoke to us like that!" Atlanta spat. She huffed as she and her friends headed for Herry's truck.

"With Neil anything is possible." Archie snarled. He too is still feeling the sting of Neil's words.

"Guys, I'm sure Neil didn't mean to attack us like that. He's going through so much emotional trauma right now." Theresa explains.

"Theresa's right," Jay says, stopping in front of the others. They all stop walking as well to hear what their leader has to say. "We just need to be patient with Neil and hope he will soon snap out of this depression."

"So what do we do now?" Herry asks. "He obviously doesn't like us visiting him. Every time we do visit he either decides he's too tired, or he gets upset with us for some reason." He points out.

"Yeah, it's hard to tell what mood he'll be in. I'm almost afraid to go back there." Odie shivers slightly. How he hoped his idea would have helped Neil cheer up some. But after seeing his friend rip up his own pictures still brings a state of shock to the brilliant young hero.

"But we have to keep visiting Neil no matter what mood he is in." Jay announces, encouragingly. "I know, deep inside, he does appreciate us being there. Someway we need to help him better though." He drifts off in thought.

"I might know of a way, Jay." Theresa sheepishly speaks out.

"How so, Theresa…?" Jay asks.

As soon as all eyes are on the strawberry blond fighter, she takes in a deep breath before continuing.

"Well, first we need to get to the mall before it closes. Come on." She cheers, leading the way to Herry's truck.


	7. First Steps

**Chapter 7: First Steps**

"I'm telling you, Neil better appreciate all of this." Archie grumbles at the same time as he looks down to the wrapped parcel under his arm. He takes two quick steps in order to catch up to others before entering the school.

"Well, I must admit this idea is a little better then the one I had yesterday." Odie shrugged with a hint of embarrassment.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. It's mainly Neil that is being difficult here." Herry pointed out.

"Yeah…" Atlanta agreed.

"Come on guys. I'm sure with a little encouragement from all of us we can help Neil feel better about himself." Jay said enthusiastically.

"Jay's right," Theresa nods as they come to the Janitor's door. She pulls out her pendent and places it in the special key hole. With a deep breath she adds, "We'll here goes nothing…"

After entering the secret realm of the Gods, the team head for Aphrodite's room. Jay raises his hand up to knock gently on the door.

"Come in…" Aphrodite sang at the other end.

Jay turns the knob and opens the door allowing all six teens to walk through. Aphrodite is standing in front of one of her large standing mirrors, admiring herself. She catches the young heroes in the reflection and turns to greet them.

"Oh, children…! It's always a pleasure to see you. I take it you are here to visit with Neil."

"Is it that obvious?" Atlanta sarcastically smirked.

Jay is the first to turn up towards the shell bed, but as soon as he looks up he frowns. It would seem fresh sheets have been laid out along with neatly fluffed cushions. All seems to be where it should be, except one important thing is missing. Instantly, he turns back to the Goddess of Love for answers.

"Uh, Aphrodite…?" Jay calls back to the Goddess. "Where's Neil?"

The blond goddess pauses with a clueless expression for a moment. It finally hits her. She glances up at the empty bed that the nymph with long blue hair had just finished changing the sheets. Aphrodite's first responds is a bubbly giggle before replying, "Oh, he's just taking a bath." She waves off. "He'll be out soon. In the meantime, why don't you all have a seat over there on the couch?"

"You mean Neil is _actually_ out of bed?" Atlanta's jaw drops.

"I suppose that is the first step in recovering from injury." Archie muses with a shrug. He is more relieved to just hear that Neil is showing some positive signs after their encounter with him yesterday.

"Guess that is a good thing." Herry grinned.

"No, it's a _great_ thing!" Jay cheers excitably.

"Yeah, he may actually be in a better mood today." Theresa nods in agreement.

"How long will Neil be before he's done, Miss Aphrodite?" Odie inquires.

"Hm," the Goddess of Love thinks about it for a moment. "Good question. Why don't you kids have a seat and I'll go find out."

Before anyone could respond, Aphrodite towards the stairs and disappears behind the long purple curtains around the corner.

"Neil…" The beautiful Goddess called out in a sing-song tone. She peers over to her left and smiles. "How are you doing, darling."

Neil glances up as he scrubbing over his right shoulder with a soapy cloth. "I'm doing good…almost done…" he replies with a hint of pride. After giving the cloth a good dunk in the water, he again takes it over his shoulder. Of course he is careful not to get his bandage wet as he does this.

"Oh that is excellent." Aphrodite chirps. "By the way, your friends are here. They are waiting over in the seating area." She looks down at her student a little worried in how he may respond to that.

"They are…?" Neil pauses, unsure how to react. He hadn't expected them to actually show up after his performance yesterday.

"You know, I could tell them you aren't ready for visitors today…" Aphrodite starts to suggest.

"No, I should say hi…or to at least apologize for yesterday." Neil interrupts. "Tell them…" he pauses slightly to think of what he wants her to say. "Tell them I'll be out in a minute."

Aphrodite smiles with relief to hear that from her pupil.

"I'll go tell them that." She turns to the nymph with short pink hair sitting near the corner of the room. "Be sure to help him when he's ready to come out." The Goddess tells her. The nymph nods with a smile as she prepares some dry towels.

Still smiling, Aphrodite leaves the spa room and heads to the seating area where she left Jay and the others. They all look up to hear what she has to say.

"He said he's almost done and will be out in a minute…give or take." She tells the young heroes.

"Well, looks like we got here just in time then." Herry says in a half joke.

"Yeah," Archie nods in agreement.

"How is he doing today, Miss Aphrodite?" Atlanta asks.

"To be honest, Neil does seem better today, especially now that he is finishing his bath." Aphrodite says.

"That's good to hear." Jay replies.

Aphrodite peers down to see that some of them are holding parcels. She raises her eyebrow along with a smirk.

"I take it those are for Neil?" She ponders out loud.

All six teens grin in a shy manner.

"Yeah, well, we are hoping these gifts will help cheer him up a little." Theresa tells her.

"I hope so too…" Aphrodite sighs. "Would any of you like anything while we wait for Neil?" She offers.

"No thanks, we're good." Atlanta answers for everyone. The rest nod in agreement.

"Oh, ok…" Aphrodite turns as soon as she hears Neil's scuffling feet walking out of the spa room. "Ah, there you are. Do you need help getting back up to the bed?" She asked.

Neil peers over her shoulder to see his friends sitting, all looking up at him and the beautiful Goddess. He glances back at Aphrodite.

"Actually, I would like to sit over there." He tells her, pointing at the seating area.

Aphrodite pauses with a brief stunned expression. She recovers and gives him a nurturing smile. "Alright," she nods holding out her hand for him to accept then guides him over gently to one of the comfy chairs beside the couch.

"Hey guys," Neil says as cheerfully as he can to his friends before sitting down. "What brings you all here?" He inquired.

"Well, uh…" Theresa begins as she gradually hands him a wrapped parcel. "We came by to give you this…"

"You got me a gift?" Neil replied a little stunned. For a moment all he could do is sit and look down at the pretty blue ribbon strapped around the silver color rectangle cardboard shape box.

"Well don't just sit there staring at it Neil. Open it!" Herry encouraged.

"Oh," Neil let out a slightly embarrassed chuckle before actually tugging at the blue ribbon. He successfully removes the ribbon without ruining it. Gently Neil places the ribbon on the small table beside his chair then finally is able to open the box. He is taken aback when he sees an exact replica of his old shirt inside. Gradually he checks the name brand under the collar and sure enough it is the same that he usually buys. This cashmere shirt is not a cheap one, especially knowing it comes all the way from Paris. He now realizes that his friends really must care if they would actually go to the store he shops to buy him a new shirt.

"I-I-I don't know what to say…" Neil is rendered speechless. He glances up to his friends and forces a smile on his face. "Thanks."

"Yeah, well… We felt bad that your good shirt was ruined, so ah…we went out and got you a new one." Archie explains as he nervously scratches the back of his head.

Atlanta snatches the parcel sitting on Archie's lap and begins to hand it over to Neil.

"Here Neil, we got you this as well." She chirps.

"Wow, it's not even my birthday." Neil muses as he accepts the second gift.

Once again he carefully takes off the pretty red ribbon of the smaller square shape cardboard box. Neil wrinkles his brow when he recognizes his mirror inside. He wonders if this is some sort of joke.

"It's my mirror…" he points out. Neil glances up at his friends with a confused expression on his face.

"Well, you see Neil," Odie begins. "When you rushed to push Jay out of the way as Cronus attacked you dropped your mirror. When it landed on the concrete the reflective glass shattered."

"It broke…?" Neil interpreted. He looks up in concern.

"Yeah, it broke," Theresa nods. "But if you notice we went out and got it fixed for you." She adds, more encouragingly.

Neil frowns, not because he is disappointed with the generous gifts, but because he has such great friends that are making this huge effort to cheer him up. He gradually opens the flaps from his repaired monogrammed mirror. Each panel is as shiny just as it was when he first got it. The only change is the reflection before him. Neil takes notice of the pale, although now clean, features on his face. His hair, still damp, but somewhat neatly combed back. The former model remembers a time when he used to gush over the sight of himself. Now he is not sure if he'll ever be the same again. With a heavy sigh, he folds the panels back and closes the mirror till all that shows is the monogrammed 'N' on the cover. Neil puts the mirror back in the box and along with his new shirt placing them both on the table with the two ribbons beside him.

"What's wrong Neil? Don't you like the gifts?" Jay asked in slight worry.

"Huh…?" Neil brings his attention up to his friends. For a brief moment he was so deep in thought that he had forgotten his friends were still here. "Sorry…yeah, I love them…it's just…It's just I've been acting like such a jerk to all of you. I didn't think you would forgive me for all the mean stuff I said yesterday and today you got me all of this…"

"Well, duh… You're our friend." Atlanta snorts.

"That and we understand what you are going through." Jay adds.

"I guess we should get going and let you get some rest…" Herry announces in a suggestive manner.

"You're leaving?" Neil looks up with a pout.

The sad, pouting expression from Neil nearly breaks the young heroes' hearts.

"We're just going to the gym." Odie explains.

"Yeah, Aries wants us to keep training." Archie adds.

"Oh," Neil sulks for a moment then looks up again at his friends. "Do you guys mind if I come along?" He asks hopefully. "I know, I'm not allowed to do much till my stitches heals, but can I at least watch?"

Jay and the others pause to look at each other for a moment. Gradually they each form a smile on their faces.

"Sure Neil," Jay says, offering his hand out to his blond friend. "We'd love to have you there."

Both Jay and Herry help Neil up onto his feet. They were all ready to leave when Aphrodite steps in front of them.

"I'd better come along too just in case you get tired and want to come back here, Neil." The beautiful Goddess explains.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

**Later…**

Hera sauntered her way into the training room and calmly watches five of the seven teens practicing their fighting skills. Theresa and Atlanta are sparing and so are Archie and Jay, while Herry is lifting heavy weights. Odie is off to the side plunking away on his lap top. She dropped her jaw in surprise as soon as she spots Neil sitting just behind Odie. He looks so comfortable in his white robe and slippers, with a warm blanket is draped over his legs. Aphrodite walks up from behind and sitting down beside him. The beautiful Goddess hands him a tall glass of lemon aid with four ice cubes floating in the beverage. Neil gladly accepts the drink and takes a sip out of the long straw sticking up from the glass. Most of Neil's attention, however, is watching his friends train.

With a grin, Hera walks over. Aphrodite is the first to notice the Queen of the Gods standing over them.

"Hera," Aphrodite smiles. "What brings you here?"

"I usually come see the children train." Hera replies. She brings her attention down to the blond teen beside her. "Neil, you're looking well. It's good seeing you out of bed."

"Yeah, I figured it's time to get some exercise." Neil grins after taking a long sip of lemon aid.

Odie couldn't help but to snort at that comment.

"What? It took great effort for me to walk here all the way from Aphrodite's room." The blond teen says in a half joke.

"Sure Neil," Odie smirks, looking over his shoulder to his friend.

"Not to mention that this is the longest I ever stayed awake in the last couple of days." He also points out.

"Yeah, I guess you've got a point there." Odie admits before turning his attention back to his lap top. He punches a few codes in to record his friends' movements as they spar with each other.

"Well, you are certainly looking better today. What an improvement from the other day." Hera politely implies.

"Thanks…" he shies away slightly when responding the Goddess comment. From the moment he woke up and ate breakfast, Aphrodite tells him how well he appears, to when Jay and the others came over to visit, and now Hera herself sees it. Even though he has received many complements on his condition he still can't seem to believe it himself.

"Perhaps if you are feeling up to it you would like to stay at the Brownstone tomorrow." The elderly Goddess suggests.

Neil perks up with a grin. "Sure...I mean, if Miss Aphrodite says it's ok." He quickly adds, addressing the Goddess of Love and Beauty beside him.

"Oh, darling it's up to you and how you may feel tomorrow." She tells him sweetly.

The young blond hero is about to say something, but instead a big yawn comes out.

"You're already starting to get tired. How about we get you back to bed soon, alright?" Aphrodite notices the sleepy look in Neil's eyes and strokes a few stray strands of hair away from his face.

"Yeah, in a bit…" Neil nods before letting out another yawn.

"Finish your lemon aid then," The beautiful Goddess instructs while patting his forearm tenderly.

"You think you might need some help getting back, Neil…?" Odie asks, couldn't help over hearing the conversation.

"Not going yet, but maybe…" Neil assures his intelligent African-Canadian friend after taking another sip of his beverage. He then brings his full attention back to his other friends that are practicing their fighting skills on each other.

Neil admires the way Theresa and Atlanta maintain their balance while executing their kicks. Also, he envies somewhat how Jay and Archie appear bold and confident in their fighting stance before they attack. Even Herry, whom is off to one side lifting weights while his mentor, Hercules spots him, seems so focused.

He looks down over Odie's shoulder and attempts to read the states of each teammate's fighting skills. Neil ponders if his skills were ever recorded in that lap top. Closing his eyes, he starts to meditate the idea of being able to move like he did before having his stomach shredded open by Cronus. If only that hadn't happened, he'd give anything if that whole day never existed. Sadly, he knows there is no way in turning back the time not even if it means saving the same guy he once was.

Neil is so wrapped up in his thoughts that he barely notices Aphrodite gently shaking his shoulder. Slowly blinking his eyes open, he turns to his mentor. She is looking at him in a concerned manner.

"You are starting to fall asleep, Neil. Perhaps it's time we take you back now, hm…?" The long blond haired Goddess calmly suggests.

"No," Neil begins to argue. "I'm only thinking."

"Actually Neil, a moment ago it did appear you were falling asleep." Odie pipes up, looking away from his lap top.

Neil is about to retort with another arguing statement, but suddenly does feel the irresistible urge to lie his head back and close his eyes again. He realizes that it is a futile attempt to try and stay awake any longer.

"Fine, I'm going…" he says with a regrettable sigh and growl.

Neil hands the glass that is now empty, safe for the four half melted ice cubes, to Aphrodite before struggling to get up from his comfortable chair. Odie puts down his lap top to rush over and help his friend up.

"We'll come by later to visit after your nap, ok…?" Odie assures him. Neil replies with a tired nod indicating he understands.

Odie watches as Neil leaves with Aphrodite. The intelligent member of the team can't help but to smile on how the former model is recovering.

"Hey Odie… Where is Neil going?" Jay calls out from behind.

Odie turns to see the rest of the team pausing from their training in order to figure out why the seventh member is leaving the room.

"Oh, he was practically falling asleep, so Aphrodite is taking him back to bed." The smart member of the team explains. He sits back down and picks up his lap top. After punching a few of the keys he looks up at his friends on the training mats.

"Say Jay, do you think we can go over some of the attack moves you and Archie were working on. I may have missed recording them in my program." He asks.

"Yeah, sure…" Jay nods in agreement. Both he and Archie prepare themselves once again to repeat their attack moves from before.


	8. The Team

**Chapter 8: The Team**

For two days since Neil has been back at the Brownstone Dormitory. The former model finds this move more comfortable then staying at the school, not that Aphrodite's bed hasn't been comfortable, but his own bed is much bigger. Also, he enjoys the evening movies with his friends. That's if he can stay away during the entire movie. The last few nights he has missed the ending due to falling asleep in the middle of it.

Neil is lying on the couch with his PJ's, white robe on. His cozy blanked draped over his legs. He leans forward slightly from the cushions to take a spoonful of a chocolate pudding from its cup. Neil scoops it into his mouth, giving him satisfaction of flavor for his taste buds. With a content sigh, he lays back comfortably on a soft pillow. Herry is sitting in his favorite chair, Odie is sitting at the end of the couch opposite of the one Neil is lying on, while Archie is lying on his stomach in front of the television. With a grim look on his face, Neil looks up from his pudding snack and at the TV program that Herry, Odie, and Archie are watching. On the screen, he sees two tall muscular men beating on a smaller man. These three men are in the middle of a square ring surrounded by millions of screaming fans holding up signs and flashing their cameras.

"_Ooh, he's got him in a choke slam…"_ a sport's announcer crows from the sidelines.

"_Is t here no stopping these brothers of destruction…?"_ the other announcer cries.

"_Now The Underdog delivers a kick to the mid section!"_ The first announcer exclaims.

"_Will there be no one to stop this devastation?"_ The second announcer moaned.

"I don't know what is more pathetic here," Neil finally grumbles. "The fact you are making me watch this silliness you all a sport, or the fact I am starting to form an opinion of it."

Odie and Herry begin chuckling over Neil's comment.

Archie turns his head to look over his shoulder at his blond friend. "Hey, wrestling is cool, ok." He begins to argue.

"Yeah, bet you could learn a few moves yourself from this." Herry snorts.

Neil sighs and shakes his head. Suddenly he begins to look uncomfortable. With a grunt he sits up while tugging at his robe. To not spill his pudding all over him, he places it on the end table between the couch and chair that Herry is sitting in. Desperately Neil glances over to Odie.

"Say Odie, you wanna do me a favor?" He pants.

"Sure Neil…What…?"

"Open that window a bit. I'm starting to get hot."

"Yeah, of course," Odie nods. Right away he reaches over and opens the window behind the couch.

"Geez, a minute ago you said you were freezing." Herry says, raising an eyebrow with Neil's sudden change in body temperature.

"Everything ok there, Neil?" Archie asks with a mild concern expression on his face.

"Everything will be fine after I get this robe off." Neil replies as he struggles to free his other arm from his wooly garment and kicking the blanket off his legs.

"Need a hand…?" Herry offers with a sarcastic smirk on his face.

"No," Neil grunts. Finally he succeeds and with a sigh of relief he leans back on the pillow to catch his breath. "_Whew_, that's better."

Archie, Odie, and Herry all look at each other before shrugging and returning to the program.

Neil glances over to the table where he left his pudding snack. He begins to reach over to grab it when he spots the remote control for the television. His lips start to curl up into a mischievous grin. With a triumphant chuckle, Neil snatches the remote.

"What the…" Herry tears his concentration on the wrestling match to know what Neil is chuckling over. He is not too amused to see why. "Aw, man…"

"What's up?" Odie asks. Archie again looks over his shoulder to know what is going on.

"Neil's got the remote," Herry spat.

"Oh great…" Archie growls.

"What, I'm bored with this stuff," Neil explains pointing at the TV.

"I thought you said you were starting to like it." Archie argued.

"I _said_ I was forming an opinion, not that I was starting to like it. Man, don't you ever listen?" Neil says, rolling his eyes skyward.

"Yeah Arch, don't you ever listen?" Herry laughed jokingly.

"Oh, shut up…" Archie groans as he throws the cushion he is leaning on towards Herry's head. Satisfied with hearing Herry muffled 'ow', Archie turns his attention back to the blond lying on the couch. "Look Neil, we are watching this." He whines.

"Alright, alright," Neil waves his hands up in defiance. "We're coming into a commercial break right now anyway. I'll put it back. I just want to see what else is on. Is that ok?"

Odie can't help but to chuckle in amusement.

With a defeated sigh, Archie replies through his gritted teeth, "fine."

Once again Neil grins with pride that he getting his way. He successfully begins changing the channels. So far with every station he goes to does not amuse him. Finally one station does strike an interest. Neil sits up with a perky grin.

"Cool, a Vampire movie. And this is a good one too. I must have seen it five times." Neil chirps.

"Are you kidding me?" Odie groans. "No offense Neil, but how could some like you enjoy Vampire movies?"

"Eh, I just do." Neil shrugs. He reaches for his pudding snack from the table and sits himself in a more comfortable position. "Oh, watch this part its good." He suggests to the others.

From the four teen boys point of view they watch the TV as the sound of a woman screaming and the sound of someone chomping on flesh and bodily fluids spilling out.

"Eeew…" Odie, Archie, and Herry all chorus as they cover their eyes.

"Now that had to hurt." Neil chuckles as he jabs the spoon into the pudding.

Herry pulls back from taking a big swig from his pop can and points at the television. "That's disgusting!" He cries just before letting out a loud belch.

Neil is about to take the spoon full of his pudding snack into his mouth, but paused to give Herry a repulsed look.

"No, _that_ was disgusting…do you mind, dude, I'm trying to eat here…" he complains.

Both Archie and Odie can't help but to look at each other and laugh in amusement. The irony behind Neil's comment considering the program that they are watching.

"What…?" Neil asks with an annoyed expression at the laughing boys. Even Herry is appearing a little baffled. Herry shakes his head before looking over to Neil once more. He watches as Neil takes another spoonful of his chocolate pudding.

"Neil," he begins. "You've been eating all day. You are starting to give me a run for my money."

"Yeah, well, I noticed how much weight I lost. I'm just trying to gain some of it back…besides, Athena keeps feeding me." Neil shrugs as he continues to scrap away at the bottom of the cup with the spoon.

Atlanta, Jay, and Theresa finally enter in the living room. Jay and Theresa glance at each other with a smile on their faces. It is good to see the team getting along.

"Hey guys whatcha watching?" Atlanta asks.

"Well, we were watching wrestling, until Herry lost the remote to Neil." Archie groans.

"Speaking of which," Herry raises an eyebrow towards the blond teen, "Neil you promised. Wrestling… Now…"

"Alright," Neil groans in disappointment. He picks up the remote from his lap and punches the code to return to the station that they were watching previously.

"Say Neil, how are you feeling?" Jay asks, walking up to his injured friend.

"About the same as when you asked me two hours ago," Neil smirks just before shoveling a heaping scoop of pudding into his mouth. "Just dandy…" he answers after swallowing the delicious chocolate goop.

"Enjoying that chocolate pudding I see." Theresa commented as she leans over Neil's shoulder.

"Yeah, it's alright." He nods, scraping the last remaining pudding from in the cup then licking the spoon clean. Neil briefly looks up at Theresa with a smile before reaching past her to put the empty cup and spoon on the table.

"Hey, guys we got a movie. We can put it in after wrestling." Atlanta suggests, holding up a dvd case. She takes a seat on opposite end of the couch Odie is on.

"Hey Neil, mind if I sit here…?" Jay asks pointing down at the other end of the couch the blond is lying on.

"Huh," Neil raises eyebrow up at the team leader. "Oh yeah, sure…" he nods his head and moves his legs in to make room for Jay.

"What movie did you guys get?" Odie asks.

"It's an old movie, but a good one. 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'," Theresa answered.

"Hm, I can't remember if I saw that one…" Neil ponders out loud. Looking rather bored and even a bit uncomfortable, he begins to pull himself up from the couch. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going, Neil?" Jay asks with a hint of worry in his tone.

The former model pauses. He suddenly feels stricken with a small case of nausea. It may not be serious, but yet another reason to get to the bathroom, just in case. Neil wondered if this queasy feeling is because of the pudding he just ate. He swallows a small lump in his throat before turning slightly to face Jay.

"I'm just going to the washroom. I'll be back though," he says before subconsciously placing a hand over his stomach and heading for the stairs.

"Gee, I hope he'll be ok." Odie inquires, noticing the sickly expression on his blond friend.

"I'll give him ten minutes then… Then I'll go check up on him." Jay mentions, also noticing the look on Neil's face.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Neil leans up bathroom counter sink. He begins to take in deep breathes in hopes to ease the queasy feeling. Not only is a sick feeling over whelming him, so is a sharp pain in his stomach. With a whimpering groan, Neil unbuttons his green monogram pajama top. He bits down on his lower lip as he pulls on the body tape that keeps the bandage gauss over his stitches. The tape seems a little sticky and it tugs slightly at his skin, causing a tad more discomfort. Finally Neil succeeds and the bandage is off. A quick inspection indicates there is no need for alarm over the condition of his injury. According to what Chiron told him, Neil decides to take this opportunity for the wound to get a little air. He tosses the used gauss into the waist basket beside the counter and leans over to turn on the faucet. Neil cups his hands together under the running cool water then brings them up so he could soak his face.

The cool water does in fact help ease the nausea; he lets out a sigh of relief. Neil places his hands under the running water again before pulling them up to his face. Satisfied that the queasy feeling is now subside he turns off the tap and reaches over to grab a towel so he can dry his face. As he pulls the towel away from his face, Neil studies his reflection in the bathroom mirror. Even though his features have improved over the past week he still is uncomfortable with the scar he now has on his stomach. He remembers all the days when he enjoyed the times he spent on beaches, and by the pool. With a frown Neil figures those days are through. No one will want to look at him with this hideous mark on his perfect body. Neil's train of thought is disturbed when a knocking on the door catches his attention.

"Hey Neil," Jay's voice called out from the other side. "Are you ok in there?"

Neil takes a moment to think about the question before answering.

"Yeah, I'm…I'm coming out now." He replies as he starts to button up his pajama top.

"Ok, cause we are about to start the movie now." The team leader announces.

"That's great," Neil says after opening the door to greet his friend. "Maybe this time I'll actually stay awake through the whole thing." He jokingly chimes.

Jay chuckles a little as he puts his arm over Neil's shoulder and helps him back down the stairs.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

**THE NEXT DAY – AT THE SCHOOL**

"There you go, Lad, a fresh gauss to cover your stitches." Chiron chimed. As Chiron trots over to put the medical supplies away, Neil pushes himself up from the examination table to button up his white cotton shirt. "Thanks Chiron," he says with a tired sigh.

"Have you been getting plenty of rest, dear boy?" Chiron asks, sounding rather concerned in hearing the tired tone of Neil's voice.

"That's _all_ I've been doing… Eating and sleeping… I'm not allowed to do anything else apparently." the blond teen groans regrettably.

"Have patients, Neil. In a few weeks the stitches will come out and you can begin training again." The centaur says, trying to sound encouraging.

With a heavy sigh, Neil replies "if you say so…"

The young blond hero gently steps off the examination table and heads out of Chiron's study. With his hands in his pocket, Neil walks, sulking over his handicap, down the hall. He comes around the corner and hears his friends talking in the wing lobby.

"Are you sure it's Cronus?" Jay asked looking down at Odie.

"Yeah, I saw it on Hermes monitors. We were doing a scan on some fields just outside of town. That is when we saw Cronus with a couple of his giants." Odie explains.

"You think he could be up to something, or perhaps this may be another set up like the one at the old factory last week?" Theresa wondered out loud.

"It could be anything, what do we do?" Archie asks.

"We investigate!" Jay blurts out. "Who knows what Cronus is up to? We'll just have to use caution. Come on."

"Hey guys!" Neil calls out. He walks up as quickly as he can so his friends don't leave before he is able to catch up to them.

"Neil…?" Atlanta turns in surprise.

"Uh-oh," Odie sighed.

"Uh, Neil," Jay stammers. "Done already with Chiron?"

"Um, yeah," Neil notices the nervous expression on the team leader's face. But what does he have to be nervous about, unless…

"Say, did I hear you guys correctly? Are you going after Cronus…without me…?" He says with his signature pout.

"It's not that we are leaving without you….it's, um, ah…" Herry tries to explain, ends up having a brain freeze.

"You're injured…" Odie reminds Neil.

Neil is taken aback with his young intelligent friend's comment. With a frown he places his hand over his freshly bandaged stomach. Right now though, it is his pride that hurts more then his injury.

"Yeah…I know…there's no need to remind me." He sulks.

"Look, we'd bring you along, but who knows what will happen out there." Jay explains.

"But, the prophecy…it says seven heroes will defeat Cronus. I make seven." Neil pauses for a moment and bits down on his lower lip. "I am still apart of the team, aren't I?"

With a regrettable sight, Theresa places a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "I hate to say it, Jay, but he does have a point."

"We are only checking the place out." Odie points out.

"There may even be a chance that Cronus is not there." Archie says with a shrug.

"Yeah," Atlanta nods in agreement.

"And even if there is the slightest sign of trouble, Neil _does_ make seven…" Herry adds in.

With a defeated sigh, Jay turns to Neil. "Fine, you better come then. But for safety sake, stay back if things do get messy."

"Yes sir," Neil smirks with navy style solute. The others couldn't help but to let out a small chuckle with their blond friend's change in attitude. With a little luck perhaps nothing will go wrong with this investigation.


	9. Confrontation

**Chapter 9: Confrontation **

Herry pulls his truck up behind a barnyard and the team of seven young heroes steps out of the vehicle.

"Alright, let's keep a low profile, people." Jay instructs. The others nod in agreement and follow their leader around the corner, towards the fields. None of them knew what to expect. They were ready for almost anything…anything but a quiet, empty field.

"Maybe they've already left?" Neil asks with a shrug.

"That's what we figured last week when we investigated the old factory…" Atlanta reminds Neil and everyone else. Neil frowns. He is beginning to feel like he shouldn't be here. What if he ends up holding back the team? With a deep breath he moves forward to catch up with his friends.

The seven heroes enter a field where down the meadow is a nearby farm. They find themselves surrounded by ten large piles of hay.

Theresa suddenly stops. She brings her hand up to her forehead as a vision hits her. "Jay… Danger…!"

"Where…?" Jay asks.

Suddenly five of the ten hay piles start moving and giants emerge, ready for battle.

"Neil…" Jay calls out over his shoulder. He wants to make sure that Neil keeps his promise to stay close to the team if trouble should present itself.

"I'm good Jay…" Neil assures him. He glances over to his left and spots something poking out from the hay stack beside him. "In fact I'm better now that I got me a weapon." He chimes pulling out a pitch fork.

"You get the feeling Cronus is expecting us?" Archie wonders out loud.

"Most likely, but this time we won't let him get the jump on us…" Jay nods knowingly.

"A little late for that, don't you think?" Odie points out as the giants start circling them.

"Everyone stay focused." The team leader orders.

"Right," Herry nods as he sticks up his thumb to show he is ready to fight. He turns towards one of the giants that are moving up towards them. "Alright, let's dance ugly."

Herry reaches up and grabs the red giant's wrists. With his mighty strength, Herry raises the goon over his head and slams him down hard on the ground, causing a minor quack.

The blue giant with polar bear legs charges up towards Odie. Neil manages to look over his shoulder in time and using the pitch fork he found, stabs the giant in the leg before the monster is able to grab his little intelligent friend. The giant lets out a painful howl before retreating off with a limp in the opposite direction.

"Thanks," Odie waves to Neil. Neil nods with a smile. As soon as Odie turns way, Neil clinches his stomach. The sudden movement in jabbing the pitch fork must have irritated his wound slightly.

Atlanta and Archie notice Neil's discomfort and rush to either side of him.

"Stay close, Neil." Archie warns.

"Yeah, we don't need you to end up injured again." Atlanta adds.

"I'll be fine." Neil says, attempting to catch his breath.

Without warning the ground beneath him seems to open up with a familiar fiery orange halo, causing the blond ex-model to slip through. He manages to let out a yelp before the ground closes itself up again.

"Neil…!" Archie and Atlanta cry out in chorus. They turn with horrified expression as they see their blond teammate is no longer standing by them. Before the young warrior heroes could find out what happened, another giant strikes down on them.

Neil falls from mid-air and lands hard on the ground. The crash causes a sharp stinging pain in his stomach. He cries out in agony as he clinches his wounded area. Realizing that he is no longer with his friends, Neil opens his eyes to look around. His eyes grow wider in fear that instead of being in the hay field, he is now surrounded by trees. To some relief, Neil does hear his friends, faintly, still fighting with the giants. His first instinct is to get up and find his way back to the team. He begins to struggle as he attempts to pull himself up. Slowly, and with great pain, he is able to get to his feet by using the pitching fork and a tree behind him as leverage. He pauses in order to catch his breath for a moment.

"You know, for a moment I actually thought I was going to finally be rid of at least one of you pesky children," a dark voice chinned from behind.

Neil's eyes shot wide open at the same time he sucks in his breath. Never in a million years would he think to be one-on-one with the God of Time. Carefully, he turns his head to face the dark immortal being.

"But because of your luck, no doubt, you survived." The angered God growls, his eyes practically glowing red.

Neil brings up the pitch fork and as he slowly backs away he holds up the weapon in a defensive manner. Cronus strut forward, unfazed by Neil's threatening posture with a sharp weapon in his hands.

"As you may have guessed by now that this little arrangement was to see how many of you brats would show. You can imagine my surprise when I saw all seven of you come out of that truck. I did see that my attempt to get Jay has nearly cost your own life. I mean, one would think that of all people you would be easy to get rid of. Ah well," Cronus shrugs. "I guess now is a better time then any to finish the job. Don't worry; I'll make this as painless as possible… Ha! Whom am I kidding…?" He laughs out loud at his own joke.

Cronus materializes and rises on of his golden scythe high above his head. With one powerful swipe, the evil God swings his weapon down towards the young blond hero. Fortunately, Neil held up the pitch fork in front of him and the sharp scythe sliced through it like butter.

With a yelp, Neil jumps back even more. He throws the broken pieces of the farmer's tool at Cronus before slipping around a tree and starts to run away. Cronus catches the handle before the sharp end of the fork could pierce him in the chest. With it firmly in his grip, the God uses it to knock the other half of the handle down on the ground.

"You are just making this tougher on yourself, Neil…" Cronus calls out as he tosses the shattered pitch fork aside. "Then again, this is fun for me." He chuckles in amusement.

Neil knows he has to get back to his friends, and fast. The pain in his stomach, however, is slowing him down somewhat. He starts asking himself what he did to deserve this. With everything he has done; saving the world and being a good friend in all. Neil wonders why life would be as cruel as this to have him run for his life away from a crazy and vengeful God. Finally, Neil can't help it. He has to stop to catch his breath. The pain is becoming too much to handle. His friends sound so far away still. A fearful realization accrues that he may not ever reach them in time. With a groan, he leans up against another tree.

"You know I thought this might actually have been tougher then it really is." Cronus chimes, walking in a very casual manner up to the scared teen.

Attempting to run again, but finding it very difficult, Neil staggers away from the tree and Cronus. He manages to make it a few feet before tripping over a root that was sticking up from the ground. Neil rolls over to see Cronus towering over him, triumphantly. The young hero's eyes widens as he watches in fear of the golden scythe being raised once more. Light from the sun beaming down through the tree branches flicker and reflect against the sharp corners of the weapon. Knowing that he can't run Neil simply shuts his eyes tightly and trying to control his quivering body.

Cronus pauses slightly. He wants to savor this moment for as long as he can. With a wide grin, he swings his weapon down, but to his surprise it becomes stuck in something…something that is now starting to buzz.

"What th…?" Cronus is stumped on what could be ruining his moment of glory. He looks up to see that his scythe is stuck in a wild bee's nest. "Blast!" He cries out in discouragement.

Neil opens one eye to see why he isn't dead yet. He can't help but to start laughing on the reason why.

"Y-You know, Cronus… I'd love to stay and chat, but I need to get going." He snickers as quickly pulls himself up. Pain or not, he figures this is his only opportunity get away from the scene. "Erm, See ya…" Neil paused for a moment. He is unsure if he should finish his sentence or not, but the temptation is too great. "Wouldn't want to _bee_ ya…"

As the lucky teen head towards a hill and uses the gravity, he slides down and away from the evil Time God. The bee hive manages to get loose and falls on the ground, allowing the bees to escape and surround Cronus.

"NOoooo!" The anguished God wails. He waves his hand off to the side and creates a portal. Cronus leaps through, but at the same time most of the bees follow him. Before the portal closes Cronus yelps as a few bees sting him.

Meanwhile, Jay and the others have arranged a plan to defeat the giants.

"Alright guys, now!" Odie cries out from behind his lap top.

Jay, Herry, and Theresa charge up against Agnon, while Archie and Atlanta charge up against the other last remaining green giant. A simultaneous strike causes both giants to fall back. Before the teens could attack again the giants both get up and run away.

"We did it," Jay cheers triumphantly. "Now we need to find…Neil…?" To the team leader's surprise he sees their blond friend staggering out of the nearby woods. Apart of him is relieved to see Neil, but he is also concerned in the way Neil is barely walking on his own two feet.

"Hey guys…" Neil starts off by waving at his friends, but he falls down on his knees, buckling over in agony.

Jay and the others instantly rush over to him.

"Neil, are you alright?" Theresa asks as she puts her arm around his shoulders.

"Yeah, I…" Neil tries to assure his friends, but is still over run by the pain.

"We better get him back so Chiron can check on your stitches." Jay suggests.

Neil is about to protest, but finds that he is in so much pain he just nods and lets his friends help him back to the truck.

"Say Neil, what happened to you?" Odie asks.

"I had a slight run in with Cronus." The blond member of the team replies.

"What happened? How did you get away?" Atlanta curiously wonders as she helps her friend in the back seat of the truck.

"Ah, let's just say I got lucky." He answers with a brief chuckle.

"We better get going." Jay says, turning to Herry. Herry nods and hops into the driver's seat. As soon as everyone was in the truck, he drives off.


	10. Epilogue

**Chapter 10: Epilogue**

Jay and the others wait impatiently in Hera's Aviary room once more. They hope that soon Chiron or Hara will come by and tell them how Neil is after their run in with Cronus. Each of them felt bad that Neil's injury almost cost his life during his run in with the evil Time God. They silently prayed they would not have to encounter Cronus for at least two weeks or so in order for Neil to properly heal.

Although Neil did mention on the way back to the school that Cronus had hit a bee's hive and most likely been stung by a couple of annoyed bees. The team is counting on that bit of info as an excuse for Cronus to lay low for a while.

For almost an hour, Jay and the others sat quietly as they are all deep in thought over this resent experience. They wondered if Neil's stitches tore open. On their way to the school, Neil complained a great deal of pain he was in, but refused Odie's chance to have a look at his wounded stomach. The former model was defiantly trying to keep a brave face though, that the team had to admit.

This waiting was about to get really frustrating and before their patience ran dry the door opens. Out comes Hara with a stern expression on her face. As she is about to open her mouth to say something, the six young heroes stand up to confront her.

"How is he, Hara?" Jay asks first.

"Yeah, he's going to be ok, isn't he?" Atlanta jumps in second with a question.

"Can we go see him?" Herry is the third speak.

Hara raises her hand to halt any further questions from the young heroes. "Neil's going to be fine, and no, you can not see him right now. Chiron took him to Miss Aphrodite's room and gave him a sedative for the pain. He is now resting soundly and will most likely be asleep for hours. The best thing that you children can do for him is to let him rest till he wakes up."

The others groan in disappointment, regardless of the fact they are relieved to hear their friend will do alright. They stand with their shoulders slumped forward with the feeling like they've lost a battle. Hara can sense their guilt in facing Cronus when they knew they shouldn't in Neil's condition. Yet, she must assure them that it will be ok.

She leans forward slightly and smiles down on them. "Why don't you kids go out for a bit, get something to eat and come back later tonight. Then you will be able to see Neil."

"Alright," all six young heroes sigh in unison. Reluctantly, they scuffle their feet out the door to head out of the school for a while.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

**Four Days Later…**

After waking up many hours from being given a sanative, Neil was told to spend a day at the school so Chiron and Aphrodite could take care of him. Chiron, especially, wanted to make sure the young hero's stitches were holding.

Now that Neil is recovering nicely, he is able to stay back in the dormitory. The other young heroes have promised not to try and go after Cronus for at least another week until Neil's stitches can come out. Since returning back to the dorm, Jay and the others have made it their main focus to give Neil their full attention. Neil, of course, has no complaints. He is indeed enjoying every ounce of attention he is receiving from everyone.

Neil enters the kitchen with an empty glass in his hand. He puts the glass on the table and walks over the fridge. After looking at his choices between orange juice, milk, and soda pop, Neil decided to go for some orange juice. He closes the fridge door before heading back to the counter that he placed his empty glass. He has just finished opening the top of the bottle when his cell phone starts ringing. This confuses Neil, being that the cell was mainly used for his modeling career. He pulls the phone out from his pocket and looks at the caller ID. The name is indeed from his former boss, which brings more confusion to Neil. The curiosity finally is getting to him, so he decides to answer it. He flips the phone open and raises it to his ear.

"Hello…?" He calmly says into the speaker end of the phone.

"_Neil, baby… I'm glad I got a hold of you."_ The voice at the end replies with excitement.

"Frankie…? What do you want?" Neil responds with a slight annoyed tone.

"_Ah, very forward, I like that. I was just telling that to my assistances the other day…"_ Frankie sounding quit suctorial.

With a groan, Neil slaps a hand on his forehead. "Get to the point, Frankie."

"_Right…"_ the flamboyant photographer pauses for a brief moment as he puts together the right words in his head. _"You see, I'm in somewhat of a pickle…"_

"Uh-ha," the former blond model hum's in a nonchalant manner. Neil just happens to catch his reflection on the shiny metal toaster. He begins to pick at a piece of food that is caught between his teeth.

"…_My latest star model has come down with mono, and well, the other male models are not available…"_

"So, what does this have to do with me? You fired me…_remember_…" Neil growled. He started turning back to the juice bottle and begins to pour the content into his glass.

"_Yes, I remember. I'm calling to apologize about that and to ask if you wouldn't mind filling in for a while."_ Frankie says in a both pleading and sheepish manner.

Neil stops pouring his drink to think about what is being said to him over the phone. This is defiantly an unexpected twist. He is actually debating if he should even take this offer in the condition he is in.

"Gee, I-I don't know…" Neil finally starts. "I too haven't been, well, feeling that well this past week and a half."

"_Well, I won't need you till this upcoming weekend… With a little luck you would feel better by then"_ Frankie admitted in a hopeful manner.

"You see, I've also been under a great deal of stress since you've let me go…"

"_I'll make it up to you…I'll pay you 20 more then your usually earning from a shoot."_

Again Neil pauses. The offer is starting to sound much sweeter now. He starts raising his eyebrow in an appealing manner. For a brief moment he was lost in thought over the fact he has been offered his job back, but instantly he remembers his friends and the loyalty they have shown him. Neil feels it is fair to at least talk to them about this first. Even talking to the Gods first would be important. Heck he doesn't even know if this is a topless shoot. This makes him quite nervous thinking about that. He would need more details about this deal that his former boss wants him to participate in.

"I-I'm going to have to have some time to think about this…" He says in a minor tense tone.

"_Neil, baby, this is me you're talking to; time is of the essence…"_ Frankie starts to argue.

"Yeah, I know…just give me at least a day to think about this ok…" before Frankie could respond to that, Neil hangs up.

He lets out a deep sigh before screwing the cap back on the juice bottle and taking it back to the fridge. He grabs his glass as he walks out of the kitchen. In the other room Jay and the others wait patiently for their blond teammate. They are sitting around a long table. Herry looks up to see Neil walking out of the kitchen, finally.

"It's about time… What happen, did you get lost or something?" The brawn hero jokes.

"Naw…just had a phone call." Neil answers honestly.

"Oh, from whom…?" Theresa asks.

"From no one important," Neil shrugs. He walks over and takes his seat at the end of the table. After placing his glass and cell phone down on the table, Neil picks up a small pile of cards that has been set in front of him. He begins to quietly rearrange the cards in his hands.

Before anyone says something the cell phone begins to ring once more. Neil leans over slightly and recognizes the caller ID. He smirks before returning his attention back to the cards in his hand. _'Frankie could never take no as an answer…even if I did say I would think about it,'_ he muses to himself in thought.

Everyone at the table glances at each other with a puzzled expression before returning their attention back to Neil.

"Uh, Neil… Aren't you going to answer that?" Archie finally asks pointing down at the blond hero's cell phone.

"Nope…" Neil replies with a low chuckle.

"Why not…?" Odie whines.

Neil grins wider before responding, "Because it's not that important." Neil makes a mental note to explain the actual conversation between him and Frankie earlier in the kitchen to his friends later.

"And what _is_ important, Neil?" Atlanta cries out in an aggravated tone.

With a wide grin, Neil looks up at his six best friends and says, "Finishing this game with my friends."

"I see, not too much like an after school special…" Theresa chuckles to Jay, whom couldn't help but to snicker at that comment as well.

The phone stops ringing, which brings relief to everyone at the table. Neil knits his brow forward. He looks up at his friends with a confused look on his face.

"Um, who's turn is it anyway?" He asks.

"Ah, yours…" Atlanta answers with an annoyed tone.

"Oh right," Neil chirps. He reaches over the table to pick up another card from a pile in the center. He takes one look at his hand and starts to flash a bright smile.

"Ah, looks like I win." He cheers, laying down all the cards for everyone to see. "Full House."

The others groan as they toss their cards on the table in defeat.

"That's the third time he's done that in a row." Theresa complains.

"Yeah," Jay nods in agreement, "but it, for some reason, doesn't bother me. I'm just glad that we are still a team…all seven of us…"

**THE END!**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Hey all, glad you've been enjoying this story. Sadly, this is the final chapter. If I am able to get more time I might write another story. I do have other ideas, but for now I must temporarily retire due to a busy schedule ahead for myself. Writing both _"Vengeance: A Dish Served Cold"_ and _"Teammate Down"_ has be a lot of fun. My beta-reader deserves credit too. She also has been a busy person, but was able to take some time to help read over the chapters of this story.

Anyway, I must go now. However, I do look forward in reading your reviews. Positive feed back is always encouraging for creative energy. I may return with more, but it is undecided at this time.

Safe Journey, and Stay Creative.


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